It Exists !!!

RollingStone just reported that Axl Rose has posted the ENTIRE Chinese Democracy album up on MySpace to stream over the internet. Wow !

After an initial listen, it really does sound like a reincarnation of the old GNR that became legendary on Appetite. It's bizarre though to listen knowing that Axl is the only original member on this record. The poor guy made all his other former bandmates so angry that none of them wanted to work on the album with him ! Give him credit though for *finally* getting this thing pressed onto disc. It's remarkable.
We've heard glimpses of what a new GNR would sound like, when the band Velvet Revolver showed up a few years ago with those other GNR members (Slash included) in tow, and they made a killer first album, the second not quite as good, but it still made us wonder, "if only Axl was here." Now Axl has emerged out of the darkness with his iconic voice in front of him, and he sounds damn good.

If there was ever a time to appreciate what GNR gave us twenty years ago, it's now. Imagine if the band had not disintegrated and Axl's ego had not kept an album like this from being out in the open for 13 years. GNR would not be the legendary rock band that made their first album one of the best ever made, but something more: ever-lasting. And that's what Axl has done with this album. Made the GNR name stand for something once more.

RollingStone gives Democracy four stars out of five in a great review, and it's well deserved: GNR is one of my favorite "lore bands," because to me, they were the pioneers of modern rock and roll...they know their roots and there's no band that is more quintisentially L.A. than GNR. Axl waited 13 years to make this record, and GNR has one of the more fascinating backgrounds of any rock group. The fact that Appetite for Destruction was even made is an achievement in itself, and has a pretty fascinating story (in this RollingStone cover story) Forget Metallica, forget Motley Crue, forget everyone else, Guns n' Roses are the patron saints of rock and roll, and I can't wait to hold their completed opus in my hands on Sunday.

Guns n' Roses last public appearance in 2002. I remember jumping up and down when they came onstage because I had never ever seen them perform live.

a TARP to cover the shame that is Detroit

Democrats are proposing tacking on another financial bailout, in the form of $50 billion in loans for the Detroit automakers. Well, $25 billion now and another $25 billion after the new year.

Jenny Granholm and Carl Levin are the main proponents of the legislation, but of course Speaker Pelosi and the Auto companies themselves are also pressing for the cash. I found this internal GM email that illustrates just how desperate they are. More importantly, a few notable journalists have written some pretty pointed arguments against this idea, and I am in accordance:

Thomas Friedman wrote a brilliant column berating the bailout plan. His hatred for General Motors is so biting that it's funny. However, it was preceded by the excellent Paul Ingrassia in the Wall Street Journal. And Charles Krauthammer brings up the union argument.

Friedman was all over the place this week, appearing on the Daily Show, and then on CNBC this morning (Part 1 & Part 2)

And finally, the clearest signal to me that General Motors deserves to die, are the private comments of Vice President Bob Lutz at a private dinner in January:

"–Hybrid cars like those made by Toyota “make no economic sense,” because their price will never come down, and diesel autos like those touted by Chrysler are also uneconomic. The only place in Europe that diesel-driven cars are big, he said, is where diesel fuel is half the cost of regular gasoline; in most places there, the costs are comparable and diesel has little market penetration.

– Global warming is a total crock of shit. I’m a skeptic, not a denier. Having said that, my opinion doesn’t matter." (With the battery-driven Volt), “I’m motivated more by the desire to replace imported oil than by the CO2 (argument).”

– With more and more good-quality cars on the market these days, “you’ve got to look at the business artistically, too. Part of our business is creating blockbusters–just like the movie business–yet we never think of ourselves that way. A car is an exciting mobile sculpture that you want to own, drive and be seen in. That’s why (auto-industry) comeback stories are always design-driven.” One GM car that fills that bill, he said, is Cadillac’s CTS."

*Source

I find it shameful that the Democrats want to spend taxpayer money on rewarding incompetence in an industry that America should have no excuse being the laughing stock of the world in. How much longer can General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler survive on a dead business model? The answer: as long as they keep getting handouts from the government to make bad products.

*My* Obama Cabinet 2008

I truly believe President-elect Obama has a unique opportunity to assemble one of the most unique cabinets ever assembled by a new president. It's at least refreshing to not have a President who appoints men who worked under his father's administration (listening, George?), but I would be a bit worried if Obama continued to install Clinton administration veterans (If they are truly qualified, then fine).

So we know that Rahm Emanuel of Illinois will be the Chief of Staff, and I agree with the choice. It would have been dumb not to pick someone with whom Obama had a prior relationship. Though Rush Limbaugh called Emanuel a "Chicago thug" on his radio show the next day. Shouldn't the White House Chief of Staff be somewhat aggressive? It seems like a job that requires a little bending of elbows and standing up to people. I have to believe that Obama is not going to do everything Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid say...it's amusing that the Democrats think they have carte blanche with a legislative agenda -- two things may prevent that, (a) Obama just ignores them and (b) If the Republicans hold onto the Alaskan Senate seat of Ted Stevens and Al Franken loses in Minnesota, it isn't a clear-cut majority in terms of voting. And by the way, what in the hell is with their treatment of Senator Joe Lieberman ? Senator Reid publicly said this in regard to Lieberman's support of John McCain:

“It was wrong, and it was improper. If we weren’t on television, I’d use a stronger word of describing what he did ... Joe Lieberman is not some right-wing nutcase, Joe Lieberman is one of the most progressive people ever to come from the state of Connecticut."

Hello, my name is Harry Reid, I admire Joe Lieberman, and want to take away his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee and demote him to a lower chair on the Veteran's Committee. Real nice. I'm glad the Congressional Democrats favor bipartisanship...

Anywho, back to Barack. Of course all of the news channels speculate as to who will be offered what post, but right before Election Day Politico took some better guesses. But I think Obama can do better for some of the positions. The New York Times is also closely following the potential new team, as well as Huffington Post. It was pretty impressive watching Obama give that press conference last week with that team of ultimateness behind him (save Jenny Granholm). If he can show that kind of thoroughness in his consideration for the rest of his advisers, it certainly looks infinitley better in comparison to the Bush team.

I'm no expert of course, but it's almost like common sense combined with watching too much "The West Wing" to be able to conjecture a Presidential cabinet (Politico guess goes italics):

**Oh, and check out this nifty NYT tool to guess the Cabinet ! Also American University's neat transition study, and CQPolitics' tool.

1. Secy. of State: John Kerry / Kerry *seems* like a good pick, but I would get so very tired of hearing him talk....what about Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, he's been on a lot of those Iraq trips and is pretty pragmatic.
2. Attorneys General: Janet Napolitano / This woman is from Arizona so she is likely pretty centrist...at this point anyone is better than Gonzales.
3. Treasury Secy.: Tim Geithner / That guy used to run the NY Fed, but I would advocate for Paulson staying on, I think he's done well with the financial crisis, not rushing things
4. Secy. of Defense: Robert Gates / Another person I'd like to see stay on, because it seems like he knows what he's doing...but what about Chuck Hagel, the one Republican opposed to the war?
5. Secy. of Agriculture: Tom Vilsack, some guy from Iowa / whatever, he's a farmer, let him have it; Or else there's some guy from the Farmer's Union to pick.
6. Secy. of Energy: Schwarzzenegger!?!? / That would be cool, but what about Al Gore !!!
7. Secy. of Education: some guy named Joel Klien from N.Y. / how bout U of M's own Maris Visnovskis ! :-D
8. White House Council: I vote for Bradford Berenson, a former White House Council, he's a genius.
9. EPA Chief: some dude named Robert Sussman. / someone else smart, I hear James Woolsey has some kind of environmental expertise.
10. Secy of Veteran's Affairs: Max Cleland ? / John McCain !!
11. Homeland Security: anyone not named Chertoff / What about Joe Lieberman !
12. Secy. of the Interior: Bill Richardson maybe ? Or John McCain !
13. Commerce Secy.: I list this because the Commerce Secretary is enormously important to internet regulations, and will have to fight Joe Biden on net neutrality, so Obama will have to pick someone like Ted Steve....er....Maria Cantwell of Washington or former Virginia Senator George Allen.
14. Secy. of Health and Human Services: Howard Dean of course...how convenient that he's no longer DNC Chair

Random Posts:
Chief Economic Adviser: Paul Krugman !!
Special Assistant to the President: Ron Podesta (Lobbyist Hater)
Climate Czar: None better than Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. This man is truly passionate about the environment, and explains global warming better than Al Gore does.
Rumored "Auto Czar": David Bonior, former MI Congressman, and NOT Jenny G
Ambassador to the United Nations: Colin Powell !!
National Security Adviser: this is a tough one...because the current one, Steven Hadley, is a fool: Bob Woodward rails against him in his latest book; BUT, Richard Clarke needs this post.

President-Elect Obama can certainly do whatever the heck he wants, but it's critical that he recognizes the immense opportunity to put his first stamp on Washington. If it's all Democrats, fine. The difference is if they are all qualified or not, and most of the people he's considering are qualified. He's already made the right decision to take it slow, but I'm reminded that when Bill Clinton took office, he waited until the very last minute, but that's why Obama has this amazing transition team working day and night to ensure that he gets the best people around him before January 20th so that they can start doing America's work and not the Democrats' work. The country can't afford anything less.

Morning in America...

Anyone not moved to tears at some point last night, is not an American. I can't offer much insight, but I know that never in my young life have I felt like an American more than I did at 11pm last night.






The entire world is in awe of us as a nation, and it gives me goosebumps to look at headlines from around the world:

Brazil, Quebec, Colombia, Prague, Ecuador, Paris, Berlin, Athens, Reykjavik, Dublin, Torino, Jamaica, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Johannesburg, Barcelona, Stockholm, Damascus, Istanbul, Brussels, Bulgaria, Rome, Krakow, Romania, Madrid, Beijing, Tehran, Jerusalem, London. And Nambia.

The world is a big place, and there's one word that does not require translation on any of these pages: Obama.






In retrospect, RollingStone magazine led the charge for this man, endorsing him last March. They know progressive politics better than anyone, and relish this moment: Obama is McGovern, McCarthy, and Carter for them, and we are all in for a remarkable journey.

Obama's speech here. And McCain's here. I felt so humbled by McCain, too. These two gave us an election for the ages, and it's just as much a victory for McCain as it is for Obama.
Tom Friedman's Tuesday night column.

Way to go, America.



*Photos from the Chicago Tribune

This is the End. Bea-utiful Friend, the End....

Nearly two years of crap come to and end tomorrow starting at 7 AM EDT, and I am enormously excited for what we as Americans will witness tomorrow. I'm spending all day today reading as much content as I can to make me better informed about these two Senators of utmost character, so that I can proudly cast my second-ever presidential vote for one of these men tomorrow morning.

Before offering some of my personal feelings about tomorrow, I want to post some of the really well-written newspaper endorsements that I have come across in the last few hours. *Note: The Obama endorsements that I have posted are coming from newspapers that endorsed George Bush in 2004, and the McCain ones are coming from newspapers who endorsed John Kerry, just so I can avoid appearing biased in my selections.

**Though I MUST post this endorsement from The Economist, the British economics/current affairs magazine. It obviously can't carry too much weight since they are not involved in our political process, but I am taken aback by how noble it is. It carries a lot of weight for me, because I think it's important for Americans to remember that this election has globe-spanning following. The entire world is going to be watching OUR news channels tomorrow, because they have been just as captivated by the election as we have, and they recognize that when a new American President is chosen, that man becomes the de facto leader of the free world, and so they have every right to want to express how they see our election, and frankly, The Economist is about as big as it gets in international news, aside from say the BBC. If I happen to come across opinions from other parts of the world, I will certainly put them on here, but until then, read this now.

The Denver Post says Obama is "better equipped to lead America into a more prosperous future" ... Kind of an odd editorial, but Colorado is an important electoral state

The Chicago Tribune says Obama would be more of a centered pragmatist than people think, and govern aptly.

The Houston Chronicle says Obama appears to posses the tools to confront our myriad and daunting problems.

-------------
McCain Endorsements

The Virginia Daily Press says Obama's hopeful message of change, when subjected to the glare of factual light, pales in comparison to Senator McCain's experience message.

The Detroit News (I didn't remember that they *didn't* endorse anyone in '04, but apparently that's the case) says "McCain can lead in uncertain times" ... I guess I posted this since I'm surprised ANY Michigan papers endorsed McCain after he gave up on all of us

-------------

Those are all the non-Bush papers I could find. It's appropriate though, because Obama's endorsement tally is about double McCain's (273-142 as of today).


I'll make this short. I have every confidence in the world that Obama will be a great president. McCain will make a great president,too Why couldn't they have been on the same ticket?
This election has been about ideas and about the men. Not the political parties or who has the most skeletons in their closet. Both Obama and McCain have character marks against them, but they are both good men. For much of the election, McCain was the better man, and Obama was the better politician, but they've swapped roles for the final stretch: McCain tried the very smear politics that killed his 2000 bid, and Obama coolly deflected McCain's rantings. Watching any McCain rally in the last few months, has been agony for those who admired McCain's original appeal. He came off as a bad comedian or MC checking to see if his mic was on cause noone got his joke. Except in McCain's world now, his supporters cheer patriotism and boo the very utterance of Senator Obama's name. When that crazy old lady looked McCain in the eye and said, "Obama is an Arab," McCain let his old self come out, and came to the defense of his rival, amid jeers from his own crowd. I looked at his mannerisms, and saw a worn-out, honest politician who is frantically trying to bail out of a sinking ship, and he has done admirably in unshackling himself from a lot of that waterweight. McCain most certainly has welcome new ideas for an old and tired Washington circle, but he has so much political baggage with him, it is a difficult choice.
Senator McCain's ideas are far different than George W. Bush's, and, were he to have just campaigned on those instead of resorting to the campaign tactics of his former rival, he would still be the better man. Senator McCain has some of the most progressive ideas on energy I have ever seen out of a Republican, but they have nearly vanished in the presence of his biggest political baggage: Governor Palin. McCain has ideas for investing in every avenue of green technology, and pressing automobile companies to develop a fuel cell automobile, and replacing transportation fuel sources, as well as converting the U.S. power grid to a carbon-neutral power grid with nuclear power. Obama has failed to elaborate on any of his energy ideas, and Senator Biden knows nothing about creating jobs, only how to take them away by befriending banks and lawyers who lobby him on his chair in the Senate Finance Committee.
I'm convinced Governor Palin is not a maverick or even a politician...she was McCain's cop-out to the Republican base and his ace-in-the-hole against a Democratic candidate who had driven away the women's vote. When he looks reporters in the eye and says she is qualified to be Vice President of these United States, I see a closet admission that he screwed up. Were there anyone, anyone at all besides Sarah Palin not named Rudy Giuliani at his side, McCain would be ahead in the polls going into tomorrow. Obama was smart enough to recognize that voters would believe him more with Senator Biden at his side, and plucked one of my favorite Democrats out of the Senate to help him lead this country. That is not a glaring endorsement of Senator Biden's character, however, as Biden has been just as bad a political liability to Obama's campaign as Palin has to McCain's bid. Biden's done fewer interviews, given fewer straight answers, and thrown more mud than Palin has, and that's a reflection upon Obama's lack of control over his campaign. But Obama picked the man who would help him win, not embarrass him. BUT, this is about the top of the ticket, not the bottom. If both Obama and McCain do their job, we won't hear a peep out of either Vice President.
Obama has the ability to lead, even I can recognize that. His ideas are pragmatic, versed, and even progressive. I would have no qualms about voting for him if it weren't for his staunch favoring of a gigantic federal government with no ceiling on spending. Sure, he'll cut your taxes, but in the interest of propping up the middle class, not growth. He is not a friend to the globalization system I study so frequently, and will have to learn that the hard way when 5 million jobs are not created during his first year. He is, however, a smart guy. I'm much more confident in his ability to think logically about a solution than is McCain, even though Senator McCain's foreign policy views, for example, are far more centrist than Bush.

No matter who wins, he's gonna have to strap this country on their back and march us into a better time to be an American. In 1932 Franklin Roosevelt came to the White House on a wave of enthusiasm. He didn't have many clear ideas on what he was going to do for the country, he just knew that he had to try his best to fix it. Not until his second term did he campaign on the New Deal to reinvent an America who's beacon had faded so violently from that city on a hill; the world scoffed at the idea of America as a global leader, with its financial system in ruins and no infrastructure to carry it out of the Industrial Revolution. I'm voting for who I think can offer a 21st Century New Deal, or, Green Deal as it's been called at times, because America isn't in good world standing right now. I recognize, too, that ideological superiority is cyclical, and if the Conservative America begun 40 years ago by Richard Nixon dies an overdue death by the hand of Obama and Biden here in 2008, then I'll stand up and salute them. I can't ignore the historical significance of what is probably going to happen tomorrow, and I confess I want to be a part of it. Voting for McCain is the honorable thing to do, but voting for Obama is the *right* thing to do. Only twice in our history has one party held what's called a "Super Majority" in Washington, and I recognize that Liberalism's time is now, because nothing out of George Bush's America has worked. I want a divided government, but I can't for the life of me pass up the opportunity to help start something exciting. I don't truly believe that Barack Obama will bow to every whim of his fellow Democrats, because that's not fair to what he has preached. He's too smart a guy not to realize that if he is handed our nation's highest office, he's gonna have to work with everyone. I *want* this man to show us what he can do, because if he made it this far, he's done something right. I want this man to have a shot to make America better. There's a reason Joe Biden was picked to help him...Biden has the chance to become possibly the most legendary vice president we've ever seen, because he will have helped an African American President do what 43 white men could not: take America to that next step in our evolution as a country for all the world to admire and take after. McCain is somewhat equipped to do the same, and there's still a chance I may vote for him, but there's a difference between fighting for your country and fighting to make your country better: McCain's Navy life has only made him know how to do the first of those items and a little bit of the latter. He hasn't quite taken that final step to realize there's more at stake here than the fear of higher taxes or the fear of possibly just picking up and leaving a failed nation-building workshop in Baghdad. If I'm gonna vote for Obama, I do it with the belief that he's still the better man, and right now he is. That, and, what the hell, vote for the smart guy with the funny ears :). The Presidency is built on the ability of good and decent men to triumph over evil, and right now that's Barack Obama. He's better equipped to make the American image one for the world to emulate. It's that simple.
Or will I decide the Conservative America lives on, and vote for McCain?
That decision I'm just not ready to make. Dennis Miller of all people said something on "The Tonight Show" recently. He said that no matter which guy wins, he's gonna get behind him and say, "Let's Go." As soon as the election is over, I'm gonna get behind whoever wins, and support them.
President Kennedy's Special Adviser, Ken O'Donnel, once said during the Cuban Misslie Crisis: "If the sun comes up tomorrow, it is only because of men of good will. That is all there is between us and the devil."

If the sun comes up Wednesday morning and Barack Obama is our President, then I made the right choice...

--------------

Now, I ask everyone out there to do what I'm gonna do: Turn off the news channels, get away from the internet news sites, for 24 hours. Make up your own damn mind, don't let anyone tell you who to vote for, just make an informed decision. Wait until 7pm tomorrow to sit back and watch an exciting election night. Don't watch the channel you normally watch, either, watch a new source, and admire that the people on that screen are trying to report on something extraordinary. Me? I'll be lounged on the couch eating pizza, with ABC News on, and occasionally will flip to get a laugh from Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. Then at 10pm, flip over to Comedy Central to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert live, to laugh about everything we've just witnessed (I swear a commercial earlier said 11 but it is definitely 10).

Prediction: Much too hard to say, but I think it's Obama, but by much closer than a lot of people think. And if McCain wins? Well, then that's a bit of history in itself.

McCain Problems Compounded

Do I really need to point out McCain's big flaw? Just to be safe, I will.

I'm gonna feel a little bit like the Daily Show here, but all this stuff really is true.

John McCain had the best line of the campaign when during the third debate, he looked Senator Obama right in the eye and said, "I am not President Bush, and if you wanted to run against him you should have run four years ago." McCain has so consistently abandoned everything that made him such a wonderful candidate in 2000, in order to have a fighting chance with the armada of foolish conservative voters that are more Pro-Bush than McCain will ever be (90% voting be damned).

"Incensed, McCain ran ads accusing Bush of lying and comparing the governor to Bill Clinton, which Bush said was "about as low a blow as you can give in a Republican primary". An anonymous smear campaign began against McCain, delivered by push polls, faxes, e-mails, flyers, and audience plants. The smears claimed that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock (the McCains' dark-skinned daughter was adopted from Bangladesh), that his wife Cindy was a drug addict, that he was a homosexual, and that he was a "Manchurian Candidate" who was either a traitor or mentally unstable from his North Vietnam POW days. The Bush campaign strongly denied any involvement with the attacks"


After it was clear McCain was the GOP nominee, he said this to Chris Matthews:


So I guess that's why McCain repeatedly let the RNC run ads saying Obama was either (a) anti-American (b) cavorted with domestic terrorists (c) a godless Christian or (d) corrupt, with corrupt friends, and used those corrupt friends to register voters (see: ACORN)

Secondly, I want to throw up when McCain gets sucked into the conservative clamoring to shout "Drill Baby Drill" at any event McCain has. He is in such a tough spot, to keep Bush's people happy, that he and Sarah Palin both say the following any time they are in a red state:

John McCain Will Put America On The Path To Eliminate the Strategic Threat From Oil:

To Mitigate The Threats Posed By Our Dependence On Foreign Oil, We Must Increase Oil Production Here At Home. We have proven oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States. But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production of another 18 billion barrels of oil. It is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use.

I don't think McCain ever wanted to do this, but once he picked Sarah Palin, he realized the stupid conservatives listen to Palin, so adopted her views on drilling for oil...giving Obama the opportunity to push the "McCain is in the pocket of Big Oil" line. Even T. Boone Pickens said that drilling here in America is one of the stupidest things we could possibly do right now. I really hope if McCain is the president, that the Democratic Congress will fight him on this and knock some sense into him, cause that's their job. McCain so frequently abandoned his own principles, that each time he did it he pushed more voters away than he reeled in, and that's why he's losing right now. The Economist thinks he can win, but he has a lot to do before tomorrow.

On the other hand, McCain has a totally fantastic energy proposal that I wasn't even aware of. If he had spoke of this more in public I think people would have listened.

Now, one of McCain's wash issues is the Iraq War. It helps him when people ponder what Obama would do about the situation, and it hurts him when people look at it and say, "Oh, crap. We're still there." McCain is right about how to get out of there...anyone who claims he was wrong about the surge hasn't read anything. And so, what McCain's problem with the Iraq issue is that hurts him at the polls, isn't even his own views: it's what Joe Biden says McCain's views are. Because Joe Biden is a liar. In a Sept. 24 speech, Biden said this:

"[Mccain] would continue what he called the Bush administration’s wrong-headed approach to the conflicts in the Middle East, endangering American security.

Cute, but Biden was arm-in-arm with McCain about Iraq a year ago.

From the Congressional voting record encyclopedia:
Iraq War position

Biden agreed with the administration's assertion that Saddam Hussein needed to be eliminated. The Bush administration rejected an effort Biden undertook with Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) to pass a resolution authorizing military action only after the exhaustion of diplomatic efforts. In October 2002, Biden supported the final resolution of support for War in Iraq. He continues to support the war effort and appropriations to pay for it, but has argued repeatedly that more soldiers are needed, the war should be internationalized, and the Bush administration should "level with the American people" about the cost and length of the conflict.

More (I actually admire Biden's fervent resistance on the surge, but he's just wrong):
"I want to make it clear that I totally oppose the surging of additional American troops into Baghdad... I think it is contrary to the overwhelming body of informed opinion... A surge of up to 30,000 American troops cannot have any positive effect except for only temporary... We have to make it clear to the Iraqis that in this quarter, we're going to begin to draw down American troops... The overwhelming reason for that is we must force a political settlement... They must understand that there is no prospect for us to be able to bring peace to Iraq if the Iraqis don't want peace as much as we do." ~ Biden

Then, in one of Biden's most admirable solutions for Iraq, he got legislation on the board, but Bush ignored it because the Republicans had a majority. I read between the lines though, and think that Biden's plan was in effect an "alternative surge" plan:
First Senate bipartisan Iraq war consensus

On September 26, 2007 the Senate approved a non-binding resolution 75-23 which endorsed a political settlement in Iraq that would divide the country into three semi-autonomous regions. With 26 Republican votes it did not force President Bush to take any action, but represented a milestone in the Iraq debate. The plan envisioned a federal government system for Iraq, consisting of separate regions for Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish populations. ~ Congresspedia

No doubt that plan would have required additional troops to enforce these areas and get them stabilized. 30,000 troops, perhaps? I know that's cruel, but Biden's attempts to illustrate Iraq as one of McCain's faults are somewhat hollow.

McCain still has a chance to win on Tuesday, but he has to insulate himself from all of the dangerous flak coming at him from both the Republican wackos and his Democratic opponents, and convince the American people that he is the more pragmatic leader, not George Bush, Junior.

Lastly, I got this chart in a McCain email today. It's very informative:
Chart

Obama Problem 2 of 2

OK, I'm cooled down now about Obama's infomercial last night. I swear.

In an effort to get some more useful information about both Senators Obama and McCain, I'll discuss the other roadblock preventing me from voting for Obama now, and then discuss some of McCain's flaws, and then on Monday night, I'll possibly disclose who I'm going to vote for Tuesday morning:

The bogus attack on Obama's tax plan as being "Socialist" is not the reason to dislike his ideas. This is the one area in which I think Obama is somewhat wrong, but not because it's Socialist. I cringed every time during the campaign, when Obama would be at a rally somewhere, and took the liberty to drop the phrase "the last 8 years are a result of the failed economic policies of George Bush and John McCain." As if John McCain, as a Senator, can be blamed for Executive decisions...
But anyway, Obama is wrong to say that. That's a hollow attack, and I thought his worst during the campaign, because a lot of people don't buy it. He should have tried to explain what the hell his tax plan means instead of bad-mouthing McCain, 'cause I don't think anyone understands it, so I'll attempt to explain it:

The big crux of Obama's plan is just who exactly gets a tax cut. His website says the following:

Provide Middle Class Americans Tax Relief

Obama and Biden will cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families to offset the payroll tax they pay.

* Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama and Biden will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama and Biden will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.

This is central to Obama's progressive tax ideas, but it isn't a "massive re-distribution of wealth" as McCain claims, it's just sort of re-allocating money that people make and giving it to retired people and people on welfare who are too lazy to get jobs. Make sense ? But it's not Socialism, and I'm serious about that fact. Now, it *seems* like it would be a good idea to tax the rich people more, but not the way that Obama wants to do it. He's constantly changed his number for what the line is for the higher tax bracket, and every time his advisers are asked about it they dodge the question and say they didn't hear that. It started at $250,000 (which gave way to the Joe the Plumber mess), then he said $200,000 at another speech, then his idiot running mate Biden said $150,000 at some speech, and then Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico said $125,000 (without permission, really. He doesn't know what he's talking about). I just want a straight answer out of Obama.

Obama's economic plan also says:
Support Small Business

* Provide Tax Relief for Small Businesses and Start Up Companies: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will eliminate all capital gains taxes on start-up and small businesses to encourage innovation and job creation. Obama and Biden will also support small business owners by providing a $500 “Making Work Pay” tax credit to almost every worker in America. Self-employed small business owners pay both the employee and the employer side of the payroll tax, and this measure will reduce the burdens of this double taxation.

I give Obama brownie points for publicly admitting that small business drives the American economy...but they aren't all Democrats. Some small businesses make quite a bit of money, and would have a higher tax rate if Obama got this plan passed. Do you think a business owner wants to have to hand more over to the government so they can turn around and give it back to people who "need" it more? My Dad owns a small business (it consists of himself) and he's buried in bills and expenses while trying to pay his mortgage and current taxes. Do you think he'd be happy with paying more money in taxes when he has to file for extensions every year cause his income is so sporadic ? I'm not saying Obama's plans wouldn't help people, but at the same time it hurts people. I like the idea of a progressive tax, but there's a certain ceiling it needs to be at in order for companies to be able to keep hiring people and churning out growth. What Obama fails to comprehend, and this is where McCain has him beat, is that the taxes on business are *too* high, and should be cut along with middle income tax brackets. Leave out the part where people who didn't work for it get a tax cut just because Obama told them he'd do it. That's dishonest and it doesn't make the economy compete on the global scale. Yea, he wants to cut the capital gains tax, but that doesn't do crap unless business have a reason to invest in our own economy. He says he'll give tax breaks to companies who keep jobs here, but the jobs are already gone, and won't come back when the Presidnt says "sorry you don't get a tax cut cause you had to outsource to a better business environment so you can make money." Damn you, logical business choices !

More analysis:
I just type in "Obama tax plan analysis" into Google, and pull up one of the top pages, from a credible source that I recognize, and here's what I found: The Heritage Foundation, in sum, thinks McCain has the better economic plan, overall, but Obama does have some things McCain's doesn't, and perhaps McCain would pick out a few things he likes and put them in legislation if elected (entire report here).

One Key Point:
Jobs respond more to McCain's plan than to Obama's. Job growth over the 10-year forecast horizon is more than twice as high under McCain's plan than under Obama's. Total employment grows an average of 915,800 jobs under Obama, and by 2,126,000 under McCain. Both plans encourage job creation in each year of the forecast, but McCain's approach leads to sig­nificantly larger job growth, and sooner. By 2018, McCain's plan, which makes the Bush tax reduc­tions permanent and lowers the tax rate on cor­porate profits, creates an additional 3,426,500 jobs. Senator Obama, however, raises taxes on many of the economy's key investors and busi­ness owners. Job growth under his plan for that same year is lower, at 1,576,200.

It's important for voters to cut through all the stuff and realize that the Obama does not have the almighty economic plan that they think he does, and it is the one reason I may not vote for him.

www.barackobama.com/plan for more on Obama's extensive ideas.

Obama Problem 1 of 2

I'm angry with Senator Obama right now. Don't act like you don't know why. 4 hours ago, flip on any major channel on television (with the exception of ABC. Ha!) and there he was, in primetime television, preceding the final game of the World Series, explaining to the American people what we already know: He's Barack Obama, and he's running for President. OK, I'm not angry that he felt the need to do a little face time and maybe stump for a few more votes, but I'm angry with how he did it, for two reasons: (1) A times, didn't it seem like the typical Democrat "Oh, let's exploit working America and say how we're gonna save the world" ? (2) I want to know: how much freaking money did that cost to do tonight? I say that because, if not for one of Obama's straight lies during this campaign, he never would have been able to do that. McCain can't counter what I saw at all tonight, because McCain can flat-out not afford it. There's something wrong with the American political system when the candidate who raised $600 million can purchase a tactical, political advantage 5 days before an election and his opponent can only sit and watch as McCain tells those who interview him: "He vowed to use public financing, and got me to commit to it...I'm still waiting for that call."

I'm talking about when at the start of this 20 month (!) campaign, Barack Obama publicly vowed to buy into public financing for his campaign. But, in June, he did a 180 and decided to opt out and allow his campaign to raise as much as humanly possible. Hence, $600 million. Now, I give Obama credit for trying to take an ideological stand against something that in his view doesn't really serve its purpose anymore. But it's disconcerting that he is on record as both singing a document and telling Senator McCain that he would sit down with him and work out a compromise. That meeting never took place.

It doesn't damage his credibility or his image *that* much, but I have a problem with Obama thinking that the system John McCain is using was going to put him at a disadvantage because he claimed the Republican party had its dirty fingers in the thing and had figured out all the loopholes. So it's questionable that he saw a way to sidestep everything and give himself the upper hand to beat something that isn't there....McCain doesn't take money from the big donors that Bush had, that's why if you go to JohnMcCain.com and look at the donation page, it's called the "Compliance Fund" not the "Corrupt Republican Coffer Fund".

This doesn't mean Obama is a liar, but it's dirty politics. I recall a column by David Brooks over the summer right after this happened (voila)...it's just dirty politics, and Obama got away with it. He went back on a promise, and not many people cared to find out why or call him out on it, but if McCain beats him in 6 days, it's because people convinced themselves he was the most trustworthy of the two...and that's scary.

Election-related Post #4

In an attempt to start to dissect the economic policies of Senator Obama and Senator today, Paul Krugman (whose columns have really started to grow on me of late) uses everyone's favorite working-class hero, Joe the Plumber to dissect a portion of the tax plans (column here). Mr. Krugman won the Nobel Prize in Economics a few weeks ago, and he definitely deserved it. The guy's a liberal but he reminds me of Alan Greenspan a little bit when he explains trade systems and interest or tax rates. Just a brilliant guy.

Powell's Amazing Endorsement

I flipped on "Meet the Press" yesterday morning, totally unaware of who would be on, and was glued to the television listening to Colin Powell endorse Barack Obama for president. Yes, Powell is one of the most successful African American public servants in our country, but that doesn't have anything to do with it. He has recognized that his friend John McCain has departed from his original promises and principles. I'm sure this will sway some more voters to vote for Senator Obama, but by itself, this is a pretty inspiring few minutes of television that Powell provided me.

Video and text of what he had to say goes here.

Obama and McCain at the Al Smith Dinner

It's pretty remarkable when two candidates who pretty much hate each others' guts on the campaign trail can shift gears and mutually appear together at a charity event. Senators Obama and McCain each gave "keynote-type" addresses at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York, and I was pretty impressed. McCain was a tad more raucous than Obama was, but that's OK...Obama gave a very subtle and moving bit about Tim Russert at one point, and McCain took the moral high ground by catching Obama a tad by surprise when saying "I can't wish him luck, but I wish him well." Great stuff.

Big Mac atones to Dave Letterman

Senator McCain finally made it back to "The Late Show" to make it up to poor Dave for slighting him in the wake of the financial emergency that caused his cancellation a few weeks back. I think McCain gets brownie points for as many talk show interviews as he does. He really is quite a personable man if he lets it come out. I don't understand why Senator Obama is so reluctant to do mass market appearances like this, aside from this weirdo block of time he purchased to air during the World Series (good way to drum up votes of more "Joe the Plumbers," Barack). I can only recall him going on Oprah and the Ellen Show, but that was many many months ago, before he was the nominee even, I believe. Oh, wait, he did go on "The Late Show" pretty recently, but for some reason, he seems stiffer in that environment...uncomfortable even, like he's afraid to open up too much. Anywho, here's Big Mac (he wins points for flat-out saying, "I screwed up"):

Election-related post 1 of ???

OK, so I gather that a lot of Americans, including myself, are becoming extremely frustrated with the presidential campaign. Both Senators Obama and McCain are sort of reverting to plain-ness in these final days so as to not upset anyone. Last night's debate was pretty stimulating at times, but if you strip it down, they didn't say a whole lot of new ideas or expand upon anything they have been asked along the campaign trail. McCain explained his mortgage-buying idea a little more, and Obama gave a pretty detailed explanation of his healthcare plan that I hadn't heard before (McCain explained his a tad also). The bottom line is, would either of these men be so terrible as President? At the start of the general election battle -- that is, when these two had sowed up enough delegates in the primaries -- I recall a fantastic cover of an issue of The Economist. It read, "The Best of America" and had Obama and McCain, side by side, on the front cover behind an American flag. No matter which one wins, he is still going to have to work with everyone to fix a whole host of problems, and they can add the stock market to the enormous list. The second-to-last piece I ever wrote for the Daily brought up a simple point: both of these two deserve the office they seek. You can't deny this has been fascinating to watch, but I feel stupid for once writing that neither of these men would resort to negative politicking (that lasted for about two days didn't it?)

I'm a conservative social democrat libertarian of sorts, and there is a lot to like on both sides (Sarah Palin and Joe Biden's hairplugs not withstanding) but I want to see more out of these guys. They have to impress me more, and actually look us in the eyes and say "I will do x x and x to fix problem a b and c" instead of griping over a long-ago meeting with a domestic dissident or how many times one voted in support of George W. Bush. I don't care. I don't care about how many homes John McCain owns or that Obama's middle name makes him an Arab. I don't care about a Plumber in Ohio who has apparently not started his own business and owes the government $1,200 in back taxes.

I am going to dissect these two men as best I can with several posts-in-waiting, and will hope to provide a service a lot of media folks don't want to and the two candidates sidestep around: real information on the issues.

I mentioned I'm a conservative social democrat libertarian, and while that sounds made up, here's my initial assessment:

McCain: Pros - Energy Policy, commitment to nuclear energy
Climate change, Iraq policy, Health care plan, Judicial appointments
Cons - Sarah Palin, Pro-life, part of his education ideas (though he is against NCLB), gun rights

Obama: Pros - Education policy, Joe Biden (in some respects), His health care plan really is quite excellent, women's rights, Energy policy, National service idea

Cons - I absolutely hate his tax cut plan and his economic package in general, Joe Biden (the other respects), that's about it...if Obama understood the economy at all, I would pledge to vote for him right this instant.

Dennis Miller on the Tonight Show

I love Dennis Miller. I think he is one of the most politically-smart comedians out there, and he was always the least-liked member of the notorious SNL casts of the 1980s, but he is as smart as a whip.

I couldn't find just a clip of Miller, so fast forward about 30 minutes in :)

Pick-ens Some New Energy Policy

Yesterday I attended a talk and town hall event featuring everyone's favorite reformed oilman, Texas' own T. Boone Pickens. He shuffled onto the stage after an overdone introduction by the MSA Vice President, receiving some final whispers in his ear for instructions, and greeted the crowd politely for the warm welcome. Pickens easily took command of the stage, totally in his own world almost, foregoing any formality or rhetoric normally heard around campus, and just plain talked to his audience. A bare whiteboard sat behind him, dressed in a plain gray suit and lipstick-red tie, his thin white hair cropped as if he was doing to church on a hot Dallas day. But this guy is an oilman, he can't possibly have real convictions about what he preaches can he? Wrong. Pickens has both bought into and personally calculated the reality that oil is running out, and America in particular is facing a not-so-long emergency to compensate for its drunkenness on Saudi sweet crude.

"I'm doing this for you. I am working for you," he said at the start. At his age, he gets it that he likely won't see his cause through to its (hopefully) successful end, even though if Pickens had his way, it would be taken care of in ten years flat. "It is up to you to finish the job I start," Pickens flatly told the crowd. His mission is simple: no imported oil in America by 2018.

The United States spends $700 billion annually on importing oil, and our consumption is around 85 million barrels of oil. Pickens thinks that using natural gas in place of oil can eliminate 38 percent of that $700 billion, wiping out a significant chunk of U.S. import costs.

Now, I'm still a little skeptical of the viability of using natural gas as a major source of energy. That's not to say that it doesn't work or wouldn't be a good solution, but it sort of reminds me of the ethanol bust. If the government commits to converting 38 percent of the US energy supply to a different source, how long will it take in terms of actual conversion, for US Government speed? I mean, we were promised corn-based ethanol about five years ago, and where is it? In about 1 out of every thousand gas stations (made-up estimate). We produced so much corn with the subsidies on Big Farm, that countries that import our corn asked us to stop because they didn't want it anymore! Pickens says that there is a vast supply of natural gas under parts of Texas, the Canadian border, Appalachia, and the Pacific Northwest, but with a lot of industry now committed to drilling for oil off of our own shores (A ridiculous option according to Pickens), how can we afford it?

One guy tried to burn Pickens during the Q&A by saying that as a commodity, gas would somehow find its way onto the global market. Wrong. Brazil didn't put sugarcane ethanol on the commodity market, did it? This is the point of the Pickens Plan: this would be OUR commodity, to sell at a price we determine and to serve as the placeholder while the other alternative energy sources are streamlined and plugged into the grid. The one thing that I do not think is viable is Pickens' desire to convert much of the US truck transportation fleet to natural gas. Even though diesel fuel is more expensive than unleaded gasoline, I think a truck that runs on batteries or a hydrogen cell is much more efficient. It's unclear how damaging the use of natural gas is to the environment, but look: If using unleaded gasonline or diesel fuel at 4/5 dollars a gallon for another few years is gonna help pay for solar cells and wind turbines (Pickens wants to build a wind belt along what is basically the Mississippi River area...why doesn't he just focus on that??), then I'm all for it. The gasoline tax has got to be increased. Anything we do right now to decrease our carbon output or whatever it is, is immediately wiped out by one day of China's or India's energy use. We build one new coal plant every few years. They build one every two weeks. It's that unbalanced.

The point is, Pickens is doing something no one else will: taking a lead on what to do to fix part of America's energy problem. A private citizen has done what government will not: stand up and offer solutions. It may seem like a conservative principle, but hey, if no one else is doing anything, somebody's got to come out and do it, and I'm glad Pickens is out there with such a large support base. He's nearly there to perfecting his plan, but that's the beauty of it: it can never be totally perfect, but it's a start.

Look out the Slackers are coming!

Last night I attended one of those infamous "Ann Arbor" events that make this liberal college town so great. Michael Moore showed up to the Michigan Theater with his new documentary in tow, titled "Slacker Uprising," a world premiere in fact (isn't A2 special?). I appreciate that he tried to be cute and wear a Michigan hat while talking, but that only made me less willing to listen to anything he said. Mr. Moore, why are you at times actually capable of making reasonable points about the world we live in and other times completely ignorant? If only you were as committed to being one type of activist as you were to being a Democrat, I might take you more seriously.

I get it that you are pissed that Kerry lost in the election in 2004. But let it go man. You yourself admitted during your speech last night that for the last 8 years the Democrats have not put out good candidates for elected office. Then why were you so stunned when Kerry lost if you didn't think he was qualified in the first place, and also why were you shocked if you knew that historical precedent is that sitting presidents do not lose elections? This is the one major problem I had with your film. I enjoyed most of it, but I am confused at its purpose. You said that you just wanted to make a scrapbook of your slacker tour in which you tried to get young people registered to vote...but I want to know: Why were you only trying to get young people registered as Democrats?? If you believed in our Democracy, why not just get people registered to vote period? It's kind of a distortion to only want people to register for one party isn't it? I see through your claim that you weren't after anything with this movie, and in reality I see an agenda to make people so angry that Kerry didn't win in 2004, that they will go out in even greater numbers to get Senator Obama elected. I am with you in the sense that it's deplorable how low young voter participation is, but please, let them decide who to vote for on their own! It's naive of you to think that the 18-29 age group can single-handedly win the election for Obama, when he's up by 30 points in that demographic regardless of how many people vote for him. It's more stupid for you to think that this country is at heart a liberal nation. The historical pattern is that this country, for the last 40 years, has been a conservative nation, and will continue to swing in that direction. Which president caused that flip? Your hailed Democrat duo of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

I desperately want to take you seriously, because half of the time, you are in the right to ask some of the questions that you do. But I can't justify that when you ignore the other side completely. I was taken aback that you actually admitted Obama has a few shortcomings with his policies such as health care and a few other things, and I approve of your proposals for him, 100%. I just hate that you are as close-minded as you are when it comes to some of the things that have happened over the last 4 years (Iraq war failure aside).

I close by asking that you do one thing and one thing only: apologize to Senator McCain for your remarks about his terrible experience in Vietnam. It's wrong to look back in hindsight and claim that he is somehow at fault for everything that happened there, and it's more wrong to belittle his arrest and imprisonment as being justified. It doesn't matter how you do it -- a phone call, a telegram, an email (but wait, you all claim he can't use a computer before realizing that he's physically unable to type on one due to his 5 years of torture and having his hands and arms broken repeatedly) -- if you really want the democratic elections and therefore society that you claim have been taken away, don't become the very antithesis of what you want to preach to young people. To believe in America is to respect those that disagree with you, and I hope your Michigan State education at least taught you that much.

Thoughts About Thomas Friedman

The other day, I finally got to see Thomas Friedman speak in person. He gave the keynote address to the Washtenaw Economic Club a few miles down the road from Ann Arbor on Eastern Michigan's campus on September 18th, and it was great. He was mainly promoting his new book, "Hot Flat and Crowded," but it's still amazing to hear his ideas come from his mouth instead of his pen. Feeling somewhat inspired, I decided to write an Op-Ed that ended up not being published in the Daily (perhaps because it was too dang long) So here it is:


Our E.T. Revolution

As I sat in my idling SUV in traffic attempting to exit from Eastern Michigan’s Convocation Center yesterday, I took note of the types of cars around me. At least half out of every ten cars I counted in this traffic jam were fellow SUV’s. I finally got out to the street, and a mile down the road, I drove by a gas station with an evil-looking bright green sign displaying $4.19 gasoline. Sitting in traffic reminded me: Thomas Friedman is so right.

The New York Times columnist and author of his new book, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” addressed the Washtenaw Economic Club yesterday, making the case – a plea really – that the United States finally do something about its shortcomings in the search for alternative energy. “If you name an issue, you own it,” Friedman said. Why shouldn’t it be America who takes the lead, takes ownership of solving the problems in this new green energy technology revolution, the successor to the information technology revolution of the early part of this decade? America used to enjoy being the best at everything, but circa 2001, America only wanted to be the best at fighting terrorism. What happened? Why does our government not challenge its citizens anymore to excel at something that serves a greater good?

In the Fifties, we were competing with the Soviet Union to have the most tanks, the biggest missiles, the first moon landing. President Bush doesn’t realize that we’re competing with China, Russia, India, Japan and Latin America to break dependence on fossil fuels in order to survive. “Where would Michigan State be without Michigan? Where would Wayne State be without Eastern Michigan?” Friedman asked. Where is America going to be in 2030 unless it wakes up and gets in the game? We are losing the fight to save our own future, and the rest of the world is going to be waving at us from atop the mountain of energy independence. It’s up to the government to allow America, and subsequently the University, to also climb that mountain, and it isn’t as difficult as it sounds.

In short, Friedman’s claim is that the world is (1) hotter (2) flatter and (3) more crowded than it’s ever been. The planet’s temperature has risen by 0.8 degrees above the normal levels recorded pre-industrial revolution as a result of carbon dioxide emissions, and temperatures will become dangerously high in the next hundred years. Combine that with the following two facts: The UN has data that says by 2053 the world’s population will have increased by the number of people that inhabited the planet in 1953 (2.6 billion) to a global population of 9 billion. Second, all of those people will have access to the global economy, and will need energy to power their computers and iPods. That’s a big challenge to come up with lightbulbs for that number of people, and for America’s part, we don’t have the capacity for it, nor should we expect to get very far with our current infrastructure. Michigan is powered primarily by coal, with one nuclear plant and natural gas power. Would we be able to support a million people suddenly moving to Detroit, in need of power for their homes? Maybe. How about if they all showed up within the next five years, and oil was at $200 a barrel? That’s the urgency we face, and the solution is to use what we already have (creativity) coupled with what we don’t (an enabling government instead of an anti-enabling one).

People began filing out when Friedman explained the economics of what needs to happen, but it’s not that different than what is happening now: American consumer goods are being outmatched by cheaper, better-made goods from China. The same goes for energy: America can’t expect to own the rights to the energy technology revolution if it can’t even scale its prices. And the Bush administration is responsible for this gap. Bush claims to believe in the market, as he says every time the stock market dips, but where on our markets is there affordable commodities such as solar cells, wind turbines and electric car batteries? There’s no scale, and thus no competition against Chinese manufacturers. Government is the enabler of competition when it reformats the market to handle a new industry, just as it did when it reformatted regulations on e-commerce for the dot com boom. This is no different: Encouraging research and development of technology that’s green doesn’t start with an end-product. It doesn’t start with Republicans shouting, “Drill Baby Drill!” at their convention. It starts with a market that is able to handle twenty different producers of a battery as opposed to one foreign producer that charges half the price and the sooner the government changes regulations, the quicker I don’t feel so bad for sitting in traffic for ten minutes in my car burning off five dollars worth of gasoline.

University President Mary Sue Coleman said at the close of Friedman’s speech that it is the state of Michigan’s charge to encourage more students to enter into fields of science and engineering, so that it is Michigan students that come up with the next great green technology, using their creativity to “Invent Baby Invent!” as Friedman put it as opposed to the 20th century American solution of putting it off for another ten years (case-in-point: General Motors unveiling of the Chevrolet Volt electric car last week, seven years after the invention of the Toyota Prius). The two-year old University Research Corridor could be working so much more intensely on this issue, if it only had the necessary federal funding to do so. More students would be getting engineering degrees if Governor Granholm would simply say, “OK, if you want to get a science degree, the state will pay for it.”

Our university can make this our issue, and with some help from the government, the University and the state, can do what so many have not wanted to do for so long: lead. I hope every person leaving the arena was thinking about how to do that as they hopped into their SUVs and sat in that same traffic jam that made me remember just how right Tom Friedman is, and how wrong our government has been.

Far Cry 2 Editor Makes Me happy

Just found this over on IGN. The narrator's voice alone makes me want to buy the game. Even though I'm sure that voice doesn't appear anywhere. A better editor than Halo 3's Forge? Possibly.

And We're Back (again)

We here in Ann Arbor are inside one month until college football starts up again, and more importantly, one month until the vale of secrecy is lifted from the Michigan football program, and we see what the heck Rich Rodriguez (hereto known as "RichRod") has been doing for the past eight months.

Anywho, let's get to some of the great material coming out of the media about the Wolverines:

Oh How I Hate...Mark Schlabach has written a couple ESPN.com articles citing Ohio State as the most hated team in college football, and therefore the most hated team in the Big(11)Ten. Surprise: Michigan is number six!?? I'm actually sort of proud of that, because under Lloyd, no one feared that helmet towards the end of the year. What a difference a new coach and a thumping of Gator Nation makes. Writer Adam Rittenberg also cites the (gasp!) UM-OSU rivalry as Big(11)Ten's best, with UM-MSU in a distant second (?). It's also too early to predict games, but he says OSU by seven points on Nov. 22...

Hungry Hungry From the Big Ten media day in Chi-town: one notable snippet from Rich Rod in an AP story:
"We lost a lot of talent offensively," Rodriguez said. "When you're young, you're hungry. A hungry player is fun to watch."

Hoping they get along John Borton on Rivals.com examines what this new Michigan team could feel like.
RichRod quoted: "Obviously, if a call doesn't go your way, you're going to be upset," he acknowledged. "I used to yell a lot in my younger years as a coach, but then I figured out that they're not going to listen to you anyway. Now, with 100,000-some [in the stands], they're not going to hear you, so why scream and yell?"

Borton says: Just a guess here – he's not going to placidly fidget with his headset and hum "Hang On Sloopy" all the way to November.

Roster! RichRod put out the roster, but no depth chart...guess we'll have to wait and see who comes on the field on August 30th. Roster here. Steven Threet will be the QB, per some Michigan Daily reporting. I'm sort of encouraged by the kind of potential this guy has, I mean, he's gigantic, wants to play after never getting a shot at Georgia Tech, and won't become a John Navarre with Rodriguez in charge. Wide receivers should be adequate, and could fit the spread even better than Manningham/Arrington would have, since each of these guys are likely faster than those two. Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown I'm hoping will split time, because both have strengths that the other doesn't, and some seem to think Mark Moundros is getting the nod over Vince Helmuth, one of my favorite recruits of last year...ugh. I'm really excited about the defense, with Brandon Harrison, Morgan Trent and Donovan Warren leading the group. I expect lots of plays being made, and with a little luck, even the special teams could be good with some of these guys returning kicks/punts. And last but not least, Zoltan will rule all with his bionic leg making it impossible for opposing teams to ever have decent field position.

One last thing: I'd like to point out something that is a microcosm of Michigan's staleness before Rodriguez took over. Here is a collection of the previous coaching staff's pictures. Do any of those guys look like they ever adapt to anything or recognize that they squander talent? Especially linebacker coach Steve Szabo. How old was that guy!?!? Or Mike Gittleson the conditioning coach...he looks like an alcoholic!!

Now look at Rodriguez's coaches and conditioning staff. Big difference, right? First there are about half as many guys total than Lloyd's entire coaching staff, so I wonder if the sidelines will seem less populated this season. Calvin McGee looks like he ate Mike DeBord, Scott Shafer looks like he killed Jim Hermann and took his glasses, and Tony Gibson stares into my soul. And of course we all know the legend of Mike Barwis: here, here, here, and here and below:

New Michigan Strength Coach Mike Barwis

Japanese Office

Holy Toledo Jack's Back !

Daily Show <3 GTA IV

Rolling Stone Retrospective

Check out Rolling Stone magazine's memorable political covers dating back to November 1968

Now if only they had included all the cover stories....

GTA IV Content Onslaught

Tomorrow marks the one month countdown until Grand Theft Auto IV.

More tidbits will be posted on occasion, and first up is the widget I found:



And the final trailer, which has convinced me that the game will indeed look excellent:

Daniel Plainview <3's Milkshakes

The best skit from this past weekend's new SNL:

Election 2008 = Season 7 of the West Wing

Slate Magazine provides an eery comparison between the last season of my favorite show and the potential McCain-Obama general election of 2008:

Ed Murrow would be proud

One doesn't run into genuinely stirring editorials on cable news very much, but take a look at this thrashing of the FISA bill that Keith Olbermann did on his show last week.

Election '08 Rolls On

I am dialed into the Democratic and Republican elections at last. It took awhile to ignite interest in this election, but I have realized that it is completely up in the air as we head toward February 5th, and I am glad for that. The 2004 election was thoroughly uninteresting because it was Bush against whoever the Democrats picked out of a hat. This one, on the other hand, is anyone's to win.

Let's see if my analysis makes sense here. We've had Huckabee win Iowa, because he worked hard for it, by talking with the people there and identifying with them. We've had a black man that can be utterly inspiring at times win that same state. And now in New Hampshire a man that I am pulling for proved he can be the Republican front-runner, and a woman won a presidential primary because she mobilized single women who had not previously cared to vote.

Now, Hillary has a slight advantage in total delegates for the nomination over Obama. Romney has a slight lead over Huckabee, with McCain gaining momentum daily. Obama will win Nevada because he got the Culinary Union endorsement just today (helpful for a caucus because they can patrol around the state and tell people how great Obama is), and if Hillary can make a strong case in South Carolina (An Edwards lock) and Florida, the race will continue all the way until Edwards gives up and supports Obama, giving him a 20% boost. For the GOP, Romney and Giuliani are discovering that only pockets of people like them, so I see it as a two man race between McCain and Huckabee. If McCain wins Michigan next Tuesday, he can win the nomination, because that tells me most of the Midwest would follow Michigan.

Prediction: Obama vs. McCain

Michigan Strikes it Rich

Michigan football fans are performing Mexican Hat Dances in the snow-covered streets of Ann Arbor this afternoon, because Rich Rodriguez has been hired! He met with Bill Martin and Mary Sue Coleman in Toledo on Friday, and took part of the weekend to mull over the offer that was on the table. Apparently the offer was so good Rodriguez couldn't pass it up, which leads me to believe that he'll be making at least $3 mil a year and probably has control over who he hires to be his assistants, some incentives for getting to the BCS, scholarships for his kids, a house, who knows.

Before we pat Bill Martin on the back, though, it seems that it may not have been him who inked RR...Mary Sue Coleman has been rumored to be the one who took control of this coaching search and went after RR. So perhaps the next step is to send Sailboat Bill off into the sunset...

More exciting for the football program, though, is the kind of players who could be wearing the winged helmet next year. The fact that Les Miles was not hired means that Sam McGuffie, the top running back in the nation, won't decommit, and now Rivals.com is reporting that Terrelle Pryor, the #1 QB prospect in the nation, who was set to go to West Virginia, is considering Michigan now. Michigan may finally bring the spread offense back, or at least a reincarnation of it. Additionally, if RR has control over who his assistants are, that means Mike DeBord will be canned, and perhaps he would grab John Tenuta from Ga. Tech to replace Ron English, which Les Miles was going to do were he hired.

I'm changing my tune that Miles was the best fit...there was no indication that he would have given the football program the drastic overhaul it needed, maybe just in pockets. He's also 54, and RR is 44...and I don't think he could get the kind of recruits Rodriguez will be able to with a block M on his shirt.

Michigan coaching search = trying to get a date in high school

The University of Michigan football program, at the hands of AD Bill Martin, is becoming a laughing stock in college football. All of us here in Ann Arbor have had our chains jerked around since November 19th, and I can't take it anymore. Sailboat Bill led us to believe Les Miles was coming here, but in reality listened to Lloyd and screwed up the pursuit. Then we had hopes that Greg Schiano was "the guy," yet rejected Billy's offer of $2 million. Wonder why...not that he had a brand new mansion of a house and a program that he himself built or anything. Our hopes spiked again when Billy and Mary Sue actually talked to Miles on the phone, but again they didn't just flat-out say "We want you to be the next coach."

I don't believe for an instant that WVU's Rich Rodriguez is a legit candidate. People think he could just magically turn Ryan Mallet into a Pat White and recruit speed players to place around him, but I think if Martin was serious about hiring him, he would have done so. $4 million is a ludicrous buyout, and MGoBlog has a rumor that he's for sure staying put.

This whole thing reminds me of High School. Les Miles is the cheerleader captain, and we were too shy to ask him out, and only spoke through a proxy, with the overprotective father watching over the whole thing (LSU AD Skip Bertman). So we got rejected, and went after the girl no one was foolish enough to ask out (Schiano), and got rejected again. And now it appears we've been rejected by the crazy girl (Rodriguez) because she just liked to lead us on and then rip our heart out. So what happens is Bill Martin is spending prom night alone in his basement 'cause no one taught him how to ask the dreamgirl out, and will get the pity date to homecoming (Ron English).

My prediction? If there's no hire by the National Championship game it's been Miles all along and the next day he's introduced as coach. He's a smart dude, I think he's handled this beautifully.

Catalogue of Columns

Now that our Fall publishing period is at and end, I have decided to post links to each of the columns I wrote this semester. No matter what I write about, there's always someone out there that finds something wrong with what I say...even though it may not even be an issue where there is two sides. There's still a lot I want to write about, and focusing more on a critical look at the University at that. I feel that as a soon-to-be graduate, I should voice some concerns I have over where I see this place going, because right now I don't like it.

Leadership in Iraq
Where's the real GOP?
A Hail Mary for the Big House
The cause of our time
Talk that Matters
Marketing machine
Comcastic-ally upsetting

Who is taking my order now?

I'd now like to start an ongoing series of posts, telling of my experiences in the globalized world. Working for an internationally-known company now, I feel like I'm right in the middle of globalization now. But I never thought I'd experience it at the drive-thru window ordering breakfast.

Yesterday morning on my way out of town, I pull into McDonald's to order breakfast, and the woman on the speaker greets me, only she has this really thick Indian accent. "Hmm, that's new, I don't remember hearing her a this one before," I thought. I pull around to pay, and to my surprise the girl at the window isn't Indian so I was confused. "Where did the Indian woman go from the time I completed my order to when I pulled around to pay?!?"

Here is the answer to my perplexion. McDonald's has begun to outsource its drive-thru operations to call centers around the country and in India!! USA Today story on this new business strategy
Quick, someone send Thomas L. Friedman to investigate!

Change of Pace

In an effort to have a wide range of material on this thing, I'll start posting video game news as well. But not yet. First I must gush about how wonderful "Gears of War" for the Xbox 360 is. I got it off eBay the other day for $20 and it is probably the most fun game I've played since Halo. There's something to be said for rushing up to a drooling, snarling locust monster and slicing through him with a chainsaw...

America's Anchors

I don't really have anything new, so enjoy this Rolling Stone piece written by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times. It's several months old, but it makes me laugh:

Stewart/Colbert Ultimateness

Super Bowl Recap

Super Bowl Sunday is most certainly one of the best days of the year. It's one of those times where you feel like you're watching the same thing that every other person in America is watching, and the day after it's the only thing people talk about at the office, in school, on the news, and so on. I was a little skeptical of CBS having the super bowl coverage this year, because I'm a fan of FOX's NFL coverage, but CBS did pretty well. The only things that took away from the broadcast a little bit was CBS advertising its own shit constantly, and Phil Simms acting like a dumbass (my favorite comment of his was when he made some obvious observation about the Colts trying to win), and the CBS camera guys had a problem with not cleaning their dang camera lenses off since it was raining so hard. They couldn't have asked for a better game though in my opinion. The first quarter was amazing and it was a relatively close game up until the last 10 or so minutes. At one point my friends and I started up a chant: "Brian Griese! *clap clap clap clap clap* Brian Griese! since Bears QB Rex Grossman was making some really stupid decisions.

Anyhoo, the commericals were pretty great as well; my favorites were the CareerBuilder.com and Coke ads. The halftime show was also very good, Prince rocked the joint. I kinda wanted him to play 1999 but playing Purple Rain in a South Beach rainstorm seemed way more appropriate. I was perplexed by a report I saw on the news this evening that when Prince was riffing on his guitar behind that giant flapping screen, that it was meant to be a giant condom and that part of his "male/female" symbol guitar that curves outward, when silhouetted, looked like a penis!? WTF!? Some people read into this stuff waaaay too much! I'll post the story as soon as I find it. In the meantime:

Watch the Super Bowl Ads!
Prince being ultimate
ESPN SB XLI Central

*One more thing: What the heck was with the Colts fans? Not only were there like none of them there, but they weren't loud, not even when their team won!

Party in the City where the Heat is On...

I feel like I should post something Super Bowl-related, so here's a fun column that was put up on ESPN today by Bill Simmons:

We're Still in America, Right?

It's really annoying as I've been watching all of ESPN's festivities down in Miami this week. Each time they come back from commercial, they have like a blimp camera or something right over South Beach, and the water is as blue as the sky, with gentle surf washing up onto the whitest beach inside these contiguous United States. And it pisses me off! Why? Because I wish I was down there right this instant! Screw 9 degree weather on this the second day of February, I want 80 degree South Florida humidity dammit!

Prediction: Colts 28, Bears 23

It Begins Once Again

After a long hiatus (blame it on a disappointing end to Michigan's football season), I've decided to once again resume my blogging goodness.

To make this returning post short and sweet, I've included links to my most recent Michigan Daily editorials:

Woodward's Wisdom

Worth Fighting For

You're Getting Warmer

Reading Between the Lines