Really....and so i-accessed hung...

Yer on a roll with these journal entries, Joel. You're in touch with your inner blogger. They are hugely entertaining and informative. This is a neat trick to be able to pull off. My theory is that you are getting behind the scenes guidance from your ace photographers.

I love the quote from the Sociologist about people voting against their rational self interest because of emotion. This is why Democrats should still be very afraid of the Republicans.

But I think you are sadly mistaken when you assert than the right views Clinton as akin to Trotsky. Most of the conservatives I work with think she is more like Stalin.

I'm so glad JA mentioned Sen. Clinton's screechy tendencies. Had fears I was judging her more harshly because of all those old cultural reasons-expectations of women being "nice" and all that.

Has Darth ruined Richardson's chances of being Obama's running mate? Richardson really impressed me last night with his obvious depth of foreign policy knowledge re: Pakistan. But I hate when governors harp on "I balanced ____ budgets" since most (all?) state constitutions require balanced budgets. Heck, even Maryland has had balanced budgets-but they did it for years by draining reserves.

Just finished the quadrennial voter registration argument with Mr. F. I-same day registration, minimal documentation. He-bio-metrically verifiable ID, a year of residency and your first born son. (Perhaps I overstate his position a bit). After all these years, so much work to do.

CP-admire your valiant boodling!

Note to likely voters interviewed by reporters swarming your state. Do not say "I've looked into his/her eyes and..." Sounds a lot like Bush and Putin and we know how well that's worked out.

More great pictures, Paris.

Every time I see Hickabee playing bass, I remember what a weasel Lee Atwater was. Ed Rollins has in the past gushed admiringly at Atwater's dirty tricks. Expect some mud to be slung before Super Tuesday. It's going to get messy after New Hampshire. Romney has enough money to drag it out several more weeks.

Stalin? I thought it was Satan.

Well, TBG, there are a few who think that too..

Gosh - what a neat piece! (This one, from our friends up north, is nice also:
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ideas/article/291334 )
Not a view destined to warm the proverbial cockles of the Clinton campaign staff, but I think it goes to the heart of the matter. It still seems to me that no Republican (I'm pretty sure that McCain will be the eventual Republican nominee, but I'd be happy to have Huckabee at a Porching Hour any ole' time!) can win the election. Given that conviction, I think that the larger-than-usual number of likely voters who are still undecided tilts toward Obama. Edwards, Clinton, Kucinich, Richardson and Dodd all seem to me to be competent, honorable folk. But something about Barack moves me. I thought that I'd never see another person as politically charismatic as Bill Clinton. I was wrong.

The piece by Meredith Chaiken :
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010404306.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
also addresses similar issues pretty well.(Here's another nice piece,

I was thinking the same thing about Huckabee, yello. May the FSM grant that Huck win the GOP nomination. I'd love to see a theocrat get stomped.

ooops! I wasn't actually ready to "POST" that last comment, but maybe you'll get the idea.

(sigh)

fb, lurking via hitching on wirelessnets on bock. Stealing? phaps but not locked...trying to fit names to neighbors....two, count em two SEISnets...lots of apple nets but those locked. Samples:

digigirls
floyd1
linksys
fido2
pornport

really....someone is clear about what wireless does for the house hold

I always liked George. McGovern
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010404308.html?nav=hcmodule

Hil's voice reminds me of the vp in highschool,who over ldspeaker would threaten us about closed campus for lunch...we earned this on a weekly basis...sensible shoes/pantsuit former gym teach/typin instructor

Dennis K looks and sounds like my civics teacher, who also was in Zero Pop growth cpt. AND a ember of NOW.

We can't always control the rhetorical heft or lack of voice and persona....but it plays a role

b9 - That's a great piece from McGovern! I'm not so sure that impeachment would accomplish anything worth the costs (emotional & financial) involved, but I'm sure gonna be happy to see new faces (and attitudes) at the top of the executive branch.

Huckabee should be on the cover of Field and Stream. Nice size bass.

I think it's sad that Joel has proven himself to be just another MSM hack by joining in the vast left-wing conspiracy which aspires to smother the campaign of Duncan Hunter!

:-)

Didn't Hillary knock their (other Dem candidates') socks off during last night's debate on ABC on the question of change?

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4092530&page=1

Edwards going on and on about how he is and was personally involved in the fight for a patient's bill of rights and about how he coauthored legislation for the bill of rights with McCain and Kennedy. Hillary pointing out out the bill never passed the House.

CLINTON: Can we just have a sort of a reality break for a minute? Because I think that it is important to make some kind of an assessment of these statements.

You know, Senator Edwards did work and get the patient bill of rights through the Senate -- it never got through the House. One of the reasons that Natalie may well have died is because there isn't a patient's bill of rights. We don't have a patient's bill of rights.

Obama making his own assertions about his accomplishments; Hillary again providing course correction.

CLINTON: You know, the energy bill that passed in 2005 was larded with all kinds of special interest breaks, giveaways to the oil companies. Senator Obama voted for it. I did not because I knew that it was going to be an absolute nightmare.

Now we're all out on the campaign trail talking about taking the tax subsidies away from the oil companies, some of which were in that 2005 energy bill.

So, you know, words are not actions. And as beautifully presented and passionately felt as they are, they are not action.

You know, what we've got to do is translate talk into action and feeling into reality.

So, Joel, isn't it better to "get real" than all "touchy-feely?" Are you feeling as glazed over as the all the Dem candidates looked--with the exception of Richardson--during the first 15 minutes of last night's debate?

And weren't the debates better because Bill Richardson and Ron Paul were in them?

Also, Joel, you might want to learn how to crop the young novice photog's work for better effect. Did you notice that in the candidate photos that you posted last night that all--with the exception of the Clinton snapshot--showed opposing lenses--poor candidates!

SCC: Bill obviously not a candidate...I think. *l*

I like the unretouched look of Paris's photos. If there are other cameras in the picture, it shows what the campaign trail is like.

Loomis - I respectfully submit to you that if what the country wants is a competent administrator, then the general election is both unnecessary and counter-productive. It would make more sense for Congress to haggle it out and just hire a president. ("Four year contract, renewable once at the option of both parties. Upper middle class/lower upper class salary, free housing, good benefits. Temporary position only, but comes with retirement stipend.")

That's not exactly what is generally sought in a president.

Fairy tales can come true,
it could happen to you
if you're young at heart;
for it's hard, you will find,
to be narrow of mind,
if you're young at heart.....

Gail Collins NYT, Jan. 5, 2008

The critical "it" is not really about reforming health care or getting out of Iraq or stopping global warming. We all know there's only the thinnest of lines between Obama and Clinton on these matters -- a line that would instantly be obliterated by the mangle that is known as the United States Congress. "It" is about Barack's promise to sweep away the old, unlovable red-meat politics and create a nonpartisan "coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states."

Which Hillary, veteran of the right-wing-conspiracy wars, regards as a fairy tale. ...

How could you be 21 and not be for Barack Obama?

How could you be 53 and not wonder how this relative stranger will hold up when the disasters arrive, when things get truly nasty and the crowd starts seeing him as mortal?

I'm not talking about retouching, yello, but cropping. It will make the work of kids or any other amateur photographer--or professional, if you will, since newspapers crop their staff photos that run in print very frequently--more eye-appealing. Editor's job.

How many hours as a kid did I spend going over my dad's photos, getting them ready for competition--and the at-home assessing and judging and preparation included, yes, cropping.

Loomis - Nicely put!

I refer, of course, to the "young-liberal/old-conservative" line. I think you're missing the point about the photos. Their haphazardness is part of their charm, I think.

The communistic "Patient Bill of Rights" ignores the magic of the marketplace. Remember, if a doctor kills and maims enough people he will eventually go out of business.

I know, I know. You're not a big fan of garish holiday decorations, either. Oh, well. Different strokes...

Boko - I just choked and spewed!

LOLOLOL!

Loomis - OK, I just looked more carefully over the photos to which you've referred, and I gotta go with yello here. I think that they were masterfully composed to show the campaign environment, and cropping them to remove the other cameras would have substantially lessened their effectiveness.

Good morning, boodle.

I wish Boko was wrong about that, but he's really not...unfortunately, there are a lot of docs out there who should be drummed out of the medical field but are not until too many bad things have happened. Of course, there are many wonderful docs out there, as well, it's just scary how often a lot of them just look the other way at malpractice.

I love all these kits, it's fun to get these snapshots, literal and figurative. I get what Loomis is saying about Obama and what happens when the going gets really tough. But I've been impressed with the organization he's built, the people he's surrounded himself with and his ability to keep his eye on the ball in this swirling campaign. It seems to me that he's got the judgment to handle it.

It's 64 degrees here in Tidewater, 37 degree high only 48 hours ago. It's crazy!

Like Loomis I was impressed with Clinton's reality check. Impressed because she was able to compose herself after a shrill episode and because all talk of "I did" this or that from a legislative perspective is really more accurately a "we" and not so much doing as providing a setting for actions to take place, or not, depending on the funding or enforcement mechanisms that go along with it (or, sigh, signing statements). What she didn't go on to recount is how almost all votes have cons intertwined with the pros. I daresay she has voted for some less than perfect legislation herself.

Isn't "Duncan Hunter" a cake mix?

Kim-it's 41 degrees here just a short hop from the Canuckistani border. Blew right by our former record high of 32 for this date (set in 1963). The record low is -31.

I like the photos as is. Too composed or cropped and it's not a blog any more.

Here's a partisan look at the campaign from a New Hampshire blog. I particularly like the group shoveling snow for Richardson, which answers JA's previous kit question. It is a gazebo, but apparently they call traffic circles, aka round abouts, rotaries. Who knew?
http://www.bluehampshire.com/

Chelsea Clinton, quoted in Time magazine:

"I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press, and that applies to you, unfortunately. Even though I think you're cute."

. . .

They say she was addressing "a 9-year-old reporter for Scholastic News, during presidential campaigning in Iowa"

I think Chelsea's one of the good ones.

How old is Chelsea these days? Certainly old enough to be an asset to her mom's campaign. Too bad she's not talking. Wonder if that were her idea, or the campaign's?

Before anyone asks, I'll elucidate. The worlds consists of two types of people: Those who divide the world into two types of people, and those who don't.

Shirley Chisholm, Daniel Moynihan - Good ones.

Timothy McVeigh, Caligula - Not good ones.

There are probably some other examples, but I can't remember them right now.

I'll grant you that my previous remark wasn't, technically, very lucid. But it amused me, which is sometimes all I ask.

Slyness - I haven't bothered to do any research on this (I shall momentarily) but I believe the the younger Ms. Clinton is making campaign appearances, she's just not doing interviews.

I believe "THAT" the younger ...

I actually watched the debates - even the Republicans - last night while I was working on my sock. Here's a shock - I was not impressed by the Republicans, either by their stand on issues, or their conduct in the debate. Huckabee and McCain zinged Romney about being a flip flopper every chance they got, Ron Paul sounds shrill and a little nutty about monetary policy being the root of all evil (and all the other candidates thought he was a joke). Even when they got a chance to attack Obama, they trotted out the same old tired issues - "sanctity of life", gay marriage.

By contrast, the Democrats looked like adults, much more ready to lead. I thought they all did pretty well, although Clinton did get wound up at one point. But she handled the likeability question well. It is kind of a shame to see her not doing so well - I'd love to see a woman become president. Maybe she would have done better 4 years ago. I think now, people want a more radical change - a different generation. I agree with Kim - Obama has built a very good organization and campaign. We'll have to see how he does if he becomes the front runner and has to endure more scrutiny.

Chelsea is 27. Yikes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010404003.html

Chelsea on the bus with Mom, some young voters and the press:

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080106/NEWS01/801060443/1043

(Alert: Pig-like male comment coming!)

I'm deeply offended that Dennis Kucinich and any spouse that he might have handy are not being featured in every possible debate!

I'm aware it's not kosher to discuss the kit, but I gotta comment on "Her problem right now is that a lot of the people who really, really don't like her are Democrats."

Yep, many Democrats. But more mainstream media. "The Village" & all that.

Back in the good 'ol days that never existed reporters reported facts, rather than their own emotions, and occasionally, in a separate segment, analyzed the facts. Now "news" is opinion; every reporter is his own Broder, and the opinion is so intertwined with the facts.

Bloggers are better at this than reporters, on all wavelengths of the political spectrum. That's part of why newspapers are dying.

Showing my age, here. The last 2007 New Yorker contains an article by Caleb Crain entitled "Twilight of the Books" which, in part, discusses the difference between those who read--which is interpretation of alphabetic abstractions--and those who exist in primarily visual worlds (illiterate, or TV-orientated). The difference in conceptualization between the two groups is significant, one example being the classification of three "like" objects from an axe, a hammer, a saw, and a piece of wood. Literate persons all classify the three tools as "like"; non-literates favor the axe, saw, and wood, because they are used together.

I'm a tool man. This country has had remarkable "change" in the last seven years. I don't like the change that has occurred. I want Humpty-Dumpty back together again. I want this even though I know that a responsible government would cut bridge sales greatly.

The main reason I can't vote for Hilary is how very much the Republicans want her to be the Democratic nominee. But I gotta admit, come November I'll vote for anybody with a (D) after their name.

lilith, I knew I liked you! It was funny, in the debate last night, the Republicans were still invoking Hillary to attack (and they called her Hillary, not Sen Clinton). Which is why Charlie Gibson informed them it could be Obama they'll be up against.

Gosh darn it, the girls are really improving the quality of the blog with the photos. Very nice work ladies. Your work and the rapid blast blogging from the boss is really bringing home the feel of everything that is going on.

Rainforest wouldn't it be neat if they were close. I'm going to put pictures of my orchid up tommorrow.

Mostlylurking, isn't it cool, this sock making thing? Sends little tiny shivers up my spine evertime. (I am obviously a VERY simple person)

Dear "Posted by: | January 6, 2008 01:19 PM" -

Well, I'm stunned. Not speechless (obviously) but stunned. In what world have you found that bloggers and editorial columnists are somehow subverting the reporting of facts? If you need to know the number of folks who turned up at a given rally, or the number of volunteers working in a given state for a given candidate, this stuff is freely available, courtesy of the boring ole' mainstream media.

Geez, Bob and yello, I'm wasn't talking at ALL about cropping about the oppposing lenses in the candidates' photos! Yikes. In those photos, the other people holding cameras and the lenses give the photos some additional interest beyond the main figure--as fatigued as Obama appeared and as sweaty as Bill Clinton was shown. I meant elements I hadn't discussed--such as the hot spot in this Kit's Huckabee photo and all the dead space around the kid holding up the placard, in today's Kit as well. Nooter's photos of Edwards weren't particularly appealing because she didn't fill the frame, they were dark, one of them not particularly in sharp focus, IIRC. Give me some credit for an art scholarship and degree, will ya?

I agree with frostbitten about the pros and cons of legislation, the "we" factor, and that a close examination of Clinton's record will undoubltedly yield some less than stellar votes. Loomispouse at New Year's Eve dinner did say that he thinks Obama will be our next president. "Woof, woof," as Joel says.

More disturbing to me during last night's debates was Charlie Gibson's question to the Dems to respond about how the surge really is working. Given how all the Dems really jumped back in rebuttal to his question after his insistent tone, I was surprised, that will all of ABC's resources and all of its media research folks, that Gibson would ask such a foolish thing. Would Peter Jennings have asked so silly a thing? See the Dem talkback in the link to the transcript that I posted.

Bob S., with all due respect, we have had a vacuous cheerleader-in-chief for eight freakin' years. Right now, *capable* administrator (with a strong vision of where the country needs to be heading)sounds pretty good to me.

Since last night's answers from Dems focused much on the power wielded by K Street lobbyists, perhaps it's time for Robert Kaiser to weigh in with an op-ed in these washingtonpost.com parts. Last I read, he is working on a book on just that subject.

*I don't see that this posted, so shall try again*

Geez, Bob and yello, I'm wasn't talking at ALL about cropping about the oppposing lenses in the candidates' photos! Yikes. In those photos, the other people holding cameras and the lenses give the photos some additional interest beyond the main figure--as fatigued as Obama appeared and as sweaty as Bill Clinton was shown. I meant elements I hadn't discussed--such as the hot spot in this Kit's Huckabee photo and all the dead space around the kid holding up the placard, in today's Kit as well. Nooter's photos of Edwards weren't particularly appealing because she didn't fill the frame, they were dark, one of them not particularly in sharp focus, IIRC. Give me some credit for an art scholarship and degree, will ya?

I agree with frostbitten about the pros and cons of legislation, the "we" factor, and that a close examination of Clinton's record will undoubltedly yield some less than stellar votes. Loomispouse at New Year's Eve dinner did say that he thinks Obama will be our next president. "Woof, woof," as Joel says.

More disturbing to me during last night's debates was Charlie Gibson's question to the Dems to respond about how the surge really is working. Given how all the Dems really jumped back in rebuttal to his question after his insistent tone, I was surprised, that will all of ABC's resources and all of its media research folks, that Gibson would ask such a foolish thing. Would Peter Jennings have asked so silly a thing? See the Dem talkback in the link to the transcript that I posted.

Bob S., with all due respect, we have had a vacuous cheerleader-in-chief for eight fr*****' years. Right now, *capable* administrator (with a strong vision of where the country needs to be heading)sounds pretty good to me.

Since last night's answers from Dems focused much on the power wielded by K Street lobbyists, perhaps it's time for Robert Kaiser to weigh in with an op-ed in these washingtonpost.com parts. Last I read, he is working on a book on just that subject.

Reposted from previous Boodling:

"Aww, Scottynuke, you're making me blush with that favorable comment about my venison chili, buddy (yeah, I thought it was good too). That and the fact that we watched on HD slighly reduced the sting of the Washington NFL Franchise's loss yesterday evening.

Cassandra, I believe our fear of The Other is a fact of animal nature, human and otherwise. As intelligent beings, we try to overcome our animal natures, but it's difficult and slow to move, to evolve beyond them.

Still, we can see signs of that movment in the Iowa Dem primary resutls, don't we?

I'm sorry about the g-girl's experience, but I suspect that if she'd been able to play near those other girls for awhile, they'd have started interacting and playing together. But fear is a tough thing to move beyond, whether you're four or 44 or more.

bc"

On a Kit-related note, prior to Iowa, I see that Ms. Clinton was leading Obama is polls among certian segments of the population...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/7065.html

bc

I wouldn't count Hillary Clinton out, not yet anyway. We still have awhile to go. There may be many rabbits pulled out the hat before it's over with.

Good pictures, young ladies. And JA, you just keep cranking them out. You're on a roll.

Back from church, and trying to fix dinner. I should have fixed it before going, but I am so lazy. I will be back to my regular routine this week. Bible studies, math and reading, hopefully a radio ministry to bring awareness to the killings here in our small town. I wonder if there's a candidate that can help us with that little problem?

Anyone with the dead trees Sunday WaPo can find three of Joel's The Trail posts agglomerated into a single column. I think its in the Opinion section at the bottom of page 2 or 4, but I may be wrong. It's good to see WaPo repurpose this valuable resource so well.

On a technical level, I very much enjoyed the pictures taken by Ms. Achenbach and Ms Nooter because they reflect the spontaneity, energy, and innate humanity of the events captured. But, not being a highly trained art critic, I could be totally wrong.

Yet my appreciation for them goes far deeper than their objective attributes. For, to me, these pictures, combined with Joel's words and the context of the Achenblog, suggest something much more. They suggest a father's pride and the enthusiasm of youth. I see in them evidence of a man willing to incorporate his daughter and her friend into his professional life. I imagine the thrill of finally figuring out the photo-imaging software. These are pictures of a grand adventure. And I hope we see more.

Loomis, I will agree with you on the Edwards pictures and on today's pictures as needing some cropping. Medium-distance shots can be difficult to get properly focused with a digital camera sometimes. Those aren't your dad's cameras.

However it clearly sounded at first like you were critiquing the Obama and the Bill Clinton pictures, which were strikingly good and would be difficult to improve by cropping (although I did think the cap at the below of the Clinton picture just might have been cropped out).

In general, you sounded annoyed with Joel for saying Clinton is probably going to pull third and splutter out of gas. As as consequence, you decided to then attack Joel for his daughters' picture-taking. That wasn't kind.

Hillary Clinton-- I like her, she's tough, but if there's one thing I've learned, people often attract trouble more than they should by making themselves lighting-rods.

Personally, I don't want a president who is a lighting-rod. I got enough of that in the Clinton years. Hillary was well admired and the right-wings went after her finances-- Whitewater, etc., along with some stabs to bring Clinton down for sexual immorality. They learned to play their cards much closer to the vest then.

Hillary has been smart about keeping a lower profile as an senator than as a first lady.

I don't want a president that plays it close to the vest. We've had enough of that with the Bush administration.

I want a president that can go into the lion's den and win their respect. We will be needing that on the international stage.

Does Hillary have that? Could be, but if she can't win the respect and confidence of America, none of that matters.

> Give me some credit for an art
> scholarship and degree, will ya?

Not to mention a kind heart.

Hard to believe the Post Ombudsperson can write an article about the paper's online Comments sections and leave out any mention of the Boodle. Oh well. I guess we are above the fray...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/04/AR2008010402937.html

I was shocked by that oversight as well TBG.

I was a little surprised this morning when I saw the cover of Parade Magazine, too.

http://blogs.kansas.com/the_editors_desk/files/images/2008/01/03/010608_bhutto_9.jpg

Since it's a pretty slow day, if anyone's interested in my adventures with socks, I blogged about it:
http://suesea7.blogspot.com/
You can see my spectacularly bad photos - they make the teenaged photogs look like Ansel Adams or Diane Arbus.

That left a bad taste in my mouth as well. Talk about tacky. I think Parade should have just pulled the whole issue.

Hi, everyone.

JA's 68/08 piece was featured on the opinion page of the Syracuse Post Standard today - I don't think I've ever seen an article by him in that particular paper before. Of course, I didn't need to read it having done so eons ago -:)) I only get the dead tree Sunday edition of that paper but I'll have to check out the online edition this week to see if there are any comments.

I've about OD'd on politics for the time being so I've given myself a bit of a reprieve in the hopes I'll recover enough for the NH primary on Tuesday. We watched the ABC debates last night and I was pleasantly surprised that my SO (he of redneck Republican fame) thought that every Republican candidate was an idiot with the exception of a few comments by Huckabee that he thought showed "common sense" (very big on common sense here in the tlf household). I pretty much slept thru the Democratic debate so don't know if he thought they were all idiots, too - I woke up for the last couple of minutes and he had no pithy comments to make, so maybe not. It's about breaking his heart that he may have to vote for a democrat this year but I assure him it shows "common sense" (heehee).

I had heard that Parade's cover story on Jan 6 was Bhutto - it was done before she was assassinated. I was a bit surprised there was no explanation about that in the paper today, at least not I that came across. Although I haven't read the whole paper yet. One of my vices is reading Parade first, awful and lightweight as it usually is. The article by Gail Sheehy about Bhutto was pretty good, I thought.

Re. Howell's Ombudsman column and the Boodle: Columnists don't write much about good news or things that are going well, do they?

TBG, the dead tree version of the Post has a disclaimer about the Parade article on Bhutto, saying it was sent to press before her assasination and was not edited to refelct that fact.

On another note, I see that the Giants soundly beat Tampa at the Bucs' house. After the game the New York Football Giants gave the Pats last week, I guess we shouldn't be surprised. But I am anyway.

bc

I am really enjoying all these posts Joel. Spent Friday flipping between your posts and those from an Ottawa Parliament Hill blogger who is also in NH. It made for amusing reading.

The disclaimer re. the Bhutto Parade article was on the front page of my Post, towards the bottom of the page in a green text box.

bc

Looking through today's Book World, I noticed this event for Wednesday, January 9:

7:30 P.M. Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright discusses and signs Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership at Barnes & Noble-Georgetown, 3040 M St. NW, 202-965-9880.

I'm thinking about going down to see her - anyone else up for an impromptu BPH?

bc

Dang, you gotta give me more notice for those BPHs, Bc. It sounds good, but I can't come.

Wish I could be there too, bc.

At lunch today, older dottir noted that her SO, visiting his mom in Maryland, made dinner last night for the whole family except his brother-in-law, who is out of town. In New Hampshire. He works for Tim Russert, so I have some idea of what he may be doing. Dottir was clueless.

I do hope she'll wake up and pay attention before it's all over.

RD, I'm presently reading "Enslaved by Ducks" by Bob Tarte. Very amusing book, I must say, about how life can go fowl all too suddenly. Bunnies have solid roles in this book, as well as parrots, turkeys, geese, parakeets, and doves.

Whew, I thought the boodle would never leave an opening for an animal related post (thanks Wilbrod).

"Did you know kangaroo farts are environmentally friendly? Scientists are studying the bacteria that prevents them from releasing methane" Read the rest here:
http://www.alternet.org/environment/72339/

OK, back to the real issues. The must-see site of the day:

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/fiore/2008/01/tortured-logic.html

Boodling from my iPhone at National Airport. Picking up my niece, who was in Nice. She and her group got here but it seems their luggageight still be at JFK.

I saw the Post's note about the Parade cover while looking for anode about the Magazine (on vacation this week). I also think Parade should have somehow pulled the cover but it's pretty expensive to do so. Plus a lot less sensational.

I hope "Manchester NH" returns with some more Boodle in Residence reporting. We need Boodlers on the ground in all the Primary states.

Since she is related to you, I assume she is a kind person. So have fun with your nice niece from Nice.

Wilbrod - thanks for mentioning that book. It sounds good.

I would like to note that Huckabee has the Electric-Bass-Guitar-Heroine vote -- my mother-in-law supports him because, yes, he plays bass. I have not heard any critique from her related to his style or ability, but I think she would forgive him if he is not up to her standards. This has prompted some level of tired sighing in our house, but hey -- what ya gonna do?

I have to agree with Loomis' opinion on the cropping of photos, at least looking at the photos today. I haven't given it much thought on these photos, but it is true that a well-framed subject extracted from the photo can elevate an enthusiastic and potentially interesting photo to the the level of exciting and iconic. Maybe. Choosing how to crop and frame a photo -- and more important, choosing to drop a really good photo that has some fatal flaw that doesn't matter to YOU, but which would matter to an audience that is seeing the photo without your background knowledge -- that's always a painful experience. Choosing which of your babies to eat.

I am getting tired of ill-informed blowhards who comment on the environmental badness of the greenhouse gas emissions from cows raised for food. I heard this sometime today, and it has stuck in my craw. Cow farts come from the carbon in cow food. Cow food comes from plant matter. The carbon in plants comes from the air, except for a component contributed by fertilizer, which may be petrochemically derived. For the most part, greenhouse gases from cow farts and cow burps is just the end stage in a recycling reaction and it has nothing to do with raising the level of atmospheric carbon. It's part of the equilibrium. Even if we increase the number of cows, it's not increasing the available amount of plant matter. SOMETHING would have eaten it, it's just that we have shifted the population balance to favor cows as the consumers (and ourselves as the consumers of cows). It's an environmental problem, yes, but it is not a global warming factor. Global warming, and elevated CO2, is caused by retrieving mineralized carbon from the solid surface and reinjecting it into the atmosphere.

Harrumph. Thank you for your time.

Oh my, I didn't mean to raise such ire by linking to an article about the supposed superiority of kangaroo farts.

I'm no expert on the science, just easily amused.

Sorry, can't post much today, too busy answering the phone and doorbell - calls and visits from earnest young volunteers who want me to vote for Obama, and from earnest older volunteers who want me to vote for Hillary. (The latter group came by bus from NY!)

Tried to run errands, got stuck in a traffic jam caused by Hillary, then another one caused by McCain, then finally one caused by group or candidate whose bus says: Don't Attack Iran, Impeach Bush! Who's that, anyone know?

This being NH, I am not accustomed to traffic jams. How do you big city folk handle it? I need to go lie down.

PS - in response to an earlier post - Duncan Hunter is not a cake mix. Vertical blinds and window treatments.

new kit y'all.

Actually I think the cow methane issue is simple-- channel that gas into a collector, burn it, and voila! You get energy, and it burns cleanly into CO2, which is a weaker greenhouse gas than methane is.

If the documentaries I've seen are right, some farmers in fact have started doing that, because, hey, free electricity isn't anything to sneeze at in those lean times. In India, cow dung is also fermented and used to produce "Gober Gas" for cooking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp_gas

Cows are actually rather efficient at digesting grass and other biomatter; far more so than horses, etc.

You rightly point out that plants tend to be eaten by SOMETHING. Let's not forget that wet dead vegetation tends to release methane, CO2, and other stuff such as the highly poisonous hydrogen sulfide. Hence the term, "swamp gas".

However, I'm with Frostbitten-- the idea that people should start ranching kangaroos instead of cattle is amusing (Roo-- the meat with a kick!), since as far as I know, kangaroos are not farmed in Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangaroo_%28meat%29

Looking for anode? I'm still getting used to my iPhone's keyboard. It's getting to know me, though, and stops trying to correct "boodle" after just a few times typing it.

I was looking for a note on the front page of the Post regarding the whereabouts of the Magazine. I need my Date Lab fix.

Thanks for your kind words, RD. My niece is a wonderful young woman. She was visiting Nice. Actually, she was in St Tropez, staying with relatives of a friend of hers here in Virginia. The friend grew up there and invited my niece and her husband and some other friends to celebrate the new year with his family on the Côte d'Azur. They had a lovely time and unfortunately still have a couple of hours' drive before they'll be home.

Manchester... thanks for posting! I hope you stick around here after the pols have left your beautiful state.

"she needs a radio-controlled shock collar"

So we continue the 16 years of treating the Clintons as subhuman (collar) or murders. Thanks a bunch. Can't you come up with anything original?

"Clinton fought back, but she needs a radio-controlled shock collar so that aides can zap her when she starts to get screechy. She came perilously close to going on a tirade. Volume is critical in these things: Ask Howard Dean."

You're an a**clown, Achenbach.

After last night, Joel, I must ask you this:

What does crow taste like? Is it the same flavor as humble pie?

I wish I had a taser for every time someone directed misogynist behavior at women.

"she needs a radio-controlled shock collar"

Perhaps, you are not basically an immature, misogynistic schmuck. Pehaps, your comment reflects being surrounded by people who have become so callous and cynical they don't recognize their own degrading attitudes. Perhaps, you need a sabbatical to find your humanity.

Wow. What an insightful and incisive post. I am amazed at how right you were, not only about Hillary finishing 3rd but also about feeling vs. rationality. My second-favorite part of your screed is where you set up a false dichotomy between data-obsessed hyper-rational robots on the one hand and, you know, people with feelings and whatnot on the other. That's just such a profound insight into human nature I'm frankly surprised you confined it to a blog post.

My first favorite is the shock collar one. Hoooo-weeeee! It took me at least 5 solid minutes to stop laughing. I turned purple. No, really; my colleagues came racing around the cubicle partitions because they thought I might be dying. No, I explained to them, I was merely overcome by the hilarity of a bon mot that managed to simultaneously evoke Inquisition-era torture devices and subtly reinforce the view of strong women with opinions as screechy.

One niggling concern, though. Shock collars are so, well, modern (and by "modern" I mean pomo, relativist, and lefty). What would really add that little flavor of unenlightened control over the voice of women is a scold's bridle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Branks_dsc05369.jpg

Next time you're going to say something about the way Clinton speaks, or dresses, laughs...whatever. Stop and ask yourself, "If I were about to make this statement about a stereotypic attribute of someone's race - would I be a racist?" If the answer is "yes" then *SURPRISE!* - you're being a sexist.

There's your "am I a sexist" litmus test. It's not that hard. If you had just said that Obama needs a shock collar for speaking like a southern preacher, you'd be a racist. (And you SHOULD avoid such racist comments.) But why is it ok to make the same comments about women? I'm so sick of this crap.

So you're saying she needs a dog collar, Joel? Classy. Really classy.

Screechy. What is WRONG with you?

I bet you "commented" on Al Gore's earth tones, too.

Welcome to the Cool Kids Table in the high school lunchroom. You and Maureen and Chris and Tim and the rest. Remember,TRASH THE GEEKS! Just don't tray from the narrative (no danger with you, I think)or the other COOL KIDS won't let you sit with them anymore.

Your unbelievably crass statement about a shock collar for Hillary not only showed the depth of your misogyny, but it reminded me to ask this question.
Why isn't George Bush's heh-heh, smirking voice (which I admit, gives me deep horror-shivers) more of a subject? Why do his obvious language flaws float by us everyday without mention from the like of you?

I would like to know what Hillary thinks about the way Bill handled Mount Carmel Center in Waco, Texas in 1993 where all the children were killed?

Hmmmm.
"Torn up"? *shudders*
Shock collar?!
Oh and she is NOT "screechy". FFS can a woman ever win?! If she never dared raise her voice you would complain that she was too "feminine".
You are a misogynist idiot.