Inappropriate Headline for Family Golf Game

Looking at my charter email account and saw this pop up under "Games", I think someone had a good time coming up with that one.

Congress is a Serious Place

Althouse had a link to this Isthmus article by Dean Robbins about a recent Chad Lee TV ad. Lee is the young GOP dude running for Congress from my district. I know that it is common in political ads to use the most unflattering video or photos of your opponent but this one is different. Tammy Baldwin is shown dancing and having fun! It makes you really think. We want our elected officials to take their job seriously and work hard but of course a healthily person can do that and have fun and let their hair down from time to time. I would rather have Tammy dancing like this than hike the Appalachian Trail or tap feet in a airport bathroom but I bet this ad will be effective. Kind of sad. But then I am going to a work 2 day training in a few weeks and I heard that there will be a DJ but I am tell you for sure I will not be on the dance floor in front of all my coworkers.

Check out the video of the ad (and I wrote this whole post without using the word breasts....oops)

E-Bay for Governor

Do you think is is just a coincidence that today, a week before the California Governor's election, I open the NY Times web page and I see a huge prominently displayed E-Bay ad? The NY Times rarely has large ads at all from what I recall. I know they know I don't live in CA and I know Whitman doesn't work there any more but seems a bit fishy to me.

I believe that it's called al fresco

"Hi, um, I'm just wondering, have you got any kind of, like, sort of punky, electronica, kind of grime, kind of like, new wave grime, but kinda maybe more like, broken beats, like, kinda dub-y broken beats, but a little bit kinda soulful? Like kinda drum and bass-y, but kinda more broken drum and bass, kinda broken beats, but break-beat, kinda broken drum and bass kinda, do y'know what I mean?"

Donuts and Cialis

I don’t usually post anything personal on the old blog but here are a few random things I wanted to share:

Today is my birthday so I tried to keep up with the office tradition of bringing in treats but I was on my bike so I had to figure out how to get something good by bike. Too nice a day to drive, winter is coming. I eventually found a bungee cord and headed off to Greenbush bakery, I know they have great donuts and tough boxes, I could do it. Got there to find them closed, bummer, went to Lane’s Bakery and got 2 boxes of donuts and only dropped them once trying to get them on the bike (don’t tell any or my coworkers) and they did not look damaged at all.

I had two already! If it was not for years of budget cuts and staff reductions, those donuts would have been gone by now. If I get fat, I will blame the numskulls in the Capitol.

Went to a great show Saturday night, went to see Joan Rivers at the Overture Center. She was awesome and moved like a 30 year old even though she is 77! She offended everyone under the son and did not hold back. The only thing awkward about the evening was that I was there not with my wife, but with my in-laws.

On Friday, we said our good byes, see you on Thanksgiving and then Saturday morning, the call comes in, ‘we are coming up to see Joan Rivers.’ The next thing I know I was sitting next to them (and those who know then know how weird this is) listening to Rivers talk about old guys and their balls dragging on the floor and what happens when the old man takes Cialis, and keep in your mind that this joke was not just a sit on a chair tell a joke, she included her best physical comedy for this one. It was great to see one of the pioneering women in comedy.

LOL - Best of Craigslist

I have just discovered the Best of Craigslist pages. OMG, these are really really great. There is something about the format that I love, it is not a short story or poem or blog post, these are posted on their system of free ads and that makes it so awesome. Some are just rants but that is ok, craigslist is not just a place to sell shit, they have all sorts of sections. It shows the complex nature of the people in our country, the creative ways people can express themselves, and who we are as a people.

Some great ones I found so far:

Adult child of divorced and remarried parents writes a note to her parents- I hope her parents read it:
"Bro and I played you little game for the last ten years, but I'm officially putting the kybosh on it today. I really do not care if you now hate each other with the burning intensity of a thousand suns; the moment your gametes merged and created a child, you got stuck with each other FOR LIFE. Deal. The. Fuck. With. It. "

Note to ladies who want to meet hip cats in Uptown in Minneapolis (which I find funny because I have spent some time in Uptown and rubbed elbows with the hip elite):
"when you take away the fixed-gear bike, the messenger bag, the scarf that's worn year-round, the ironic t-shirt, the dumb shoes, the pbr, the tattoos, plugs, and the stupid beard, we all look the same."

Litter box cleaning for pancakes

Naked in New York - Personal assistant for wealthy NYC couple that hang around house naked , this idea seems to funny to be real but the ad is not funny, very matter of fact.

can't get this out of my head

MIA Paper Planes

Sanchez is no Mel Gibson

I don’t think that Rick Sanchez should have been fired for his remarks about Jews and John Stewart. If you have not, you should listen to the whole discussion between Sanchez and Pete Dominick. Don’t just hear clips or read the selected quotes. You should hear the whole 20 minute discussion.

I do not doubt that Sanchez has faced some discrimination and bigotry in his career. He speaks about that and it is real. He starts off talking about how he doesn’t like Jon Stewart. He uses the word “bigot” and he probably uses it wrong but he is trying to say that Stewart doesn’t like people who are educated liberals. I can’t say if this is a bit true but Sanchez is entitled to his opinion. He does not make the Jewish connection with his views on Stewart.

He does later laugh at the notion that Jews are minorities who face discrimination, and this is the part that probably got him in the most trouble. While I don’t agree with him, I understand him having this point of view from his world view. We want to encourage a dialogue among American’s about cultural differences, Sanchez has a bit to learn on the matter, but I don’t think this view rises to the level of real anti-Semitism and should have gotten him fired. He works for some liberal, educated Jewish people at CNN, he had Jewish friends growing up in Miami. It is natural to form views about them based on his experience. My grandmother was a wonderful person but she was a bigot. From her 80 years living in Chicago, she formed clear views about black people based on her experience on the bus, at the library in the grocery store. From what Sanchez has seen has seen in his 50 year life, he has not seem many cases of Jewish people being discriminated against and has seen Jews at the top levels throughout American society. It is hard not to stereotype and form biases against a group of people if you have direct experiences with people from that group often.

I don't watch him much but I sense that Sanchez is an honest person and has an interesting perspective on the world. I sense that with some more dialogue and discussion he would see why his views are offensive. This step will result in everyone learning that they should keep their views to themselves and shut up about anything even remotely offensive and I don't think that will lead us towards improving our understanding of each other.