And yet I'm still first

Best high level analysis I have seen in a long time. Novak's column was particularly rabid. If McCain wins the nomination despite the opposition by Limbaugh, Coulter, Malkin, etc., it will go a long way towards establishing his credibility with moderates and independents that he is not Bush III or another right wing nutjob.

News-sausage. That's a term to make one think twice of eating food-sausage. Along those lines, a recent news story from Germany revealed a very strict medieval sausage-making regulation that required stringent quality control. The regulation even predated the celebrated beer regulations. Those Germans may have been vulnerable to plague, but may have had safer, better sausages than we Americans get today.

Reposted from the last kit:

Good morning!

I enjoyed meeting everyone at the BPH last night. I admit I did feel like a stalker as I approached the table, but everyone was great. I look forward to future BPH events.

Back to work for me!

Posted by: Moose | February 1, 2008 09:33 AM

Happy Friday and Super Bowl Weekend!

The RINO guys remind me of an uncle who detested Eisenhower as a RINO. The poor man was like those who thought Al Gore was a Democrat in Name Only (DINO) and voted for Nader in 2000.

Good stuff, Joel.

Does anyone else have this Google ad below?

Political Bobble Heads
Hillary Clinton, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Ooopsy The Clown

Loved this line, Joel:

"But in keeping with the fundamental Republican philosophy - Help The Guy On Top - the frontrunner enjoys ..."

And now we know where to shop for Joel for next Christmas-

http://www.hrgiger.com/

This is one seriously weird dude.

The problem with McCain from a Republican perspective is not the question Mitt keeps harping on "Is he a conservative enough Republican?" They dare not ask the true question "Is he a Republican enough conservative?" It would reveal everyone else's unwillingness to play well with others.

G'morning boodle. We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave. 7 above already and headed for the mid 20s!

Let the cooking begin- To be made ahead today, White Chocolate Cheesecake and Flourless Chocolate Cake with Rasberry Liqueur Custard Sauce, and 90 spring rolls.

About Mitt's hair, since we still don't know what Loomis hair is- The man has "good hair" in the same way Jimmy Johnson does.

RINO, DINO, OMADITA (Only Makes A Difference In Theory Anyway).

I agree that not nearly enough attention is being given to Superdelegates. Heck, up until now I figured they were just delegates who could, you know, leap tall buildings and stuff.

Is it really plausible that they could swing the nomination away from Obama - even if he were to win more, what, "normal" delegates? Wouldn't the Superdelegates feel some obligation to the voters and fear their wrath?

Missed period in section 2.

I've been a RINO for quite a few years. It's good to finally find a fellow RINO even if I don't agree with everything he says. I was seriously worried I'd have to switch parties like my wife did. That could lead to union membership or worse.

My son registered as a Democrat since if you will be 18 by the general election, you can vote in the primary. His choice of candidates in order of preference is Obama, McCain, Clinton.

I also really like the observation that Iowa doesn't matter. But I betcha boocoo bucks that in 2012 we will still be reading about candidates admiring butter cows. Political traditions die hard.

Obama as Reagan? Since I know someone who says this, I'll explain: potential to become extremely popular / populist, and attract the independents and middle. I am not enamored of this concept, but I can handle it on those terms, barely. So I morphed their faces together:
http://jumpersbloghouse.blogspot.com/

Well, here's good news for the Dems (though of course bad for the copuntry: "U.S. Payrolls Drop for First Time Since 2003"
"Economy sheds 17,000 jobs in January, a rare dip in the number of people working and a sign of weakness amid debate about a possible recession."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020100323.html?hpid=topnews

All this endorsing and taking sides brings to mind the thoughts I ponder when we drive through rural America and I see campaign signs in yards.

I always think it's pretty brave to post a sign in your yard supporting one Sheriff candidate over another, don't you?

I'm a WINO (Whig in name only). Old habits die hard.

That's just plain scary, Jumper.

Or maybe it was the other kind of wino, I forget.

Or both, like dual citizenship.

In Project Management School they teached us all about a phase of any project called "Lessons Learned." It is my experience that this is the second most ignored step. (The first is the communication plan, but that's another story.)

There is huge psychological pressure not to learn lessons if said lessons contradict past strategy. For such negative lessons would imply you were wrong. And that a failed project was, at least partly, your fault.

This is a conclusion to which many are resistant.

Instead folks like to believe that failure is not a result of poor strategy or execution, but is, instead, due to external forces that swamped an otherwise brilliant plan.

This yields the very popular conclusion that next time the smart approach is to do exactly the same thing. Just more of it.

I think this explains a lot about the world. It all comes down to the screwy way individuals think.

I also assert that the opening paragraph (or "lede graf" as you journalistic types call it to remind us simple folk that you are, in fact, journalist types) is a monument to the powers and dangers of caffeine.

Let's hope that when these truths finish gestating we are able to escape the cognitive spaceship of conventional wisdom firmly holding the domestic feline of enlightenment.

graf 6, line 3: every should be ever.
Correcting punctuaton is so anal :-)

RD Padouk has possibly explained why infantry charges remained standard operating procedure for so long. "Do exactly the same thing. Just more of it."

Mudge, will postpone the answer to "Loomis hair" until I dream up something "Boodle-appropriate"."

I like the headline of today's Kit: "Some Basic Truths of Campaign 2008." Especially since I said earlier on the Boodle that I wanted to write something at some point in order to dispel the myth of dynasty.

Well, I got confronted with "dynasty" writ large, I estimate 24-point type, on the second page of our local op-ed effort this morning. Under the Super Duper Fat Headline are two pictures--on the left, Bill and Hillary at a podium together, on the right, Obama giving a shoulder clasp to Teddy. Under the Clintons is a reprint of Nicholas Kristof's op-ed in yesterday's NYT titled "The Dynastic Question"--(headline rewritten in our paper as "Should Clinton be avoided?").

Under the Kennedy-Obama embrace is an op-ed by Kathleen Parker titled "Kennedy nod shouldn't matter" (who knows what the original title was since the headlines at the Express-News are often rewritten either to fit space requirements or to give articles' intents entirely different slants. Don't think I don't notice. I do.). Her first two grafs are good, as are her last:

First two:

Americans finally have narrowed the presidential race to two front-runners: John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

Too bad they're both busy chatting up Guinevere and Galahad in the ultimate Camelot, where the the climate really is perfect all the year. [Could they be in San Diego?] Eternally.

Last two:

For his part, Obama would rather have the Kennedy's imprimatur than not, but he's no JFK, as even he would surely insist. And maybe he doesn't want to be. Camelot was once a dream, but today it is a curse. No one can live up to a hallowed past, especially one that didn't really exist.

Perhaps we attach ourselves to the legacies of icons past is because we have so little faith in the fuutre. But surely it's time to let Kennedy and Reagan rest in peace. They've earned it--and imitations are always just that.

In Kristof's editorial effort yesterday he asks readers to comment about his column in which he lays dynasty and American history on the editorial exam table and dissects it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/opinion/31kristof.html

Kristof uses the term "Clinton Restoration" as does Eugene Robinson in his op-ed today--again, the implication of the word "restoration" linked muscularly to "dynasty."

So, in the interest of a Boodle experiment (before I write anything) as regards dynasty, perhaps we can engage in a thoughtful exercise over the weekend. Those of the male gender, I would like you to go home and ask your wives the following question (perhaps the same question can be asked of significant others, although I think it more valid in the case of married spouses, since we are talking Hill and Bill here). Kristof, that goes for you, too.

I would like you to look straight into your spouse's eyes and seriously ask, "Are you my dynasty?"

I'm wondering what the answers and/or reactions will be? Really. I think in the gender wars, it would be a fair game (or a turn of the table) for a woman to ask her husband this question as well. Duly note the response or reply.

I do think there may be an answer such as, "Honey [insert appropriate affectionate label], I may be your "destiny," but there's no way, Jose, that I am your dynasty!"

I'll check back with y'all on Monday on this question/topic.

I'm with you, RDP.

Not that I'm not all for separation of church and state, but I think it's time for someone (everyone?) to smack down the NFL. Their greed surpasses sub-prime mortgage lenders *and* private equity brokers together! Whose airwaves are those, anyway, or were they before they were given away?

Loomis... this Post Mortem blog bit tells us something about the Express-News...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/postmortem/2008/01/oops.html

I should add, those were 2 separate thoughts. One commending RD on his project management lessons learned comment, another dissing the NFL. Not that I'd ever watch the Super Bowl anyway.

I just don't see the difference between 300 folks gathered in one place to watch the Super Bowl (excuse me... the Big Game) for FREE or those same 300 people gathered in 30 places.

The churches aren't charging anyone to watch, are they? That would be wrong. But how is it against a copyright to all watch the game together? That makes no sense at all.

May I also add that for every 300 people who gathered at a church to watch the Big Game, probably only about 250 will watch it now that they can't gather together.

That's 100 eyeballs not watching those multimillion-dollar ads.

The Clintons are a family, by most definition of the word right?
Collins dictionary defines "dynasty" as
1.Sequence of hereditary rulers
2. Any sequence of powerful leaders of the same family.
Hence it would be a Clinton dynasty by the second definition.

It's snowing hares and bears, we may get an early out. Yessss!

I gotta tell ya, Loomis, I'm having trouble parsing and figuring out exactly what that dynasty question is all about. In particular, I don't get what my spouse has to do with anything.

dbg, I'm with you about the NFL. I think they've really overreached this time. If a bar can have a giant-screen TV, I see no reason a church can't. And the 55-inch rule is completely capricious and arbitrary. As long as no one is charging admission (and no one is), no harm, no foul.

Right, TBG!

I think even calling it "The Big Game" is too nice. There should be a perjorative in there. :-)

Re. Super Bowl XLIVM or sumthing.
Please note that the legislator choose to exempt the sportbars from the copyright restrictions when the NFL started to hassle them. The NFL is just now asking for across the board legislation.

Many churches have a cover charge or a food fee or some other fund-raising aspect to their Big Game events. They will also often have side drawings, games of chanceand the like. Still not sure on how this infringes on the NFL's license. The got a pound of flesh from bars that "rebroadcast" the game and now are looking after smaller fish.

Heck, the record industry goes after girl scout troops for unauthorized campfire singing.

Plays like Christopher Marlowe's "Edward II" make it pretty clear that while medieval (and later) English sovereigns liked to promote the idea of hereditary monarch, the English throne was often attained and/or held through scheming, murder, and outright warfare. Later on, Parliament got into the picking-and-deposing game, too.

So that Collins dictionary definition seems pretty good.

sd may be right, but since chelsea clinton does not appear to have any interest in politics (except the dutiful daughter campaigning currently), the clintons are not in the same category of dynasty potential as the bushes or the kennedys. it would end with hrc, but we've still got bushes and kennedys out there. the first lady of ca is of kennedy vintage. i do believe it helped at least a little to get ahnold elected in a blue state.

I think, in the interest of the topic of the Kit, that I'll defer writing about "my side of the story" vis-a-vis "the soft bigotry of low expectations." But I'll solve the mystery of the "haunting" for you, Mudge, as well as share some of the silent lessons learned in our Bakersfield household.

To say that my parents had a bad marriage is something of an understatement. My mother never had much local mobility because she didn't drive. We--mother and two daughters--walked eveywhere. Since we were a one-income family (as were many at the time) we only had one vehicle (as did many families at the time).

But the issue is love--or lack of it--and hellfulness (Freudian typo, I meant helpfulness, but might as well leave it)and support of a spouse.

We lived about two blocks from Bakersfiled High School, where a number of adult evening classes were held for the community (community college as sponsor? I don't remember...). Seems it was fine for my father to drive himself over for a number of years to his photography class. But he wouldn't drive my mother to her painting class. So, on those nights, in the dark, my mother would walk herself over to the high school, carrying her wet oil canvas (acrylic paints dry overnight, but not oils) facing out from her artist's smock and her body, her desktop easel, and her tackle box full of paints and brushes. From this I learned *gumption.*

My mother didn't learn to drive until I was in junior high. I think my father would rideshare some of the time during this period, which meant the car was in the garage, available. I won't go into how my mother scraped together the money for her private driving lessons (not a direct handover of money from my father, certainly), but hire someone to teach her--she in her 40s--she did.

My mother and father had had another one of their fights. It was shortly before her next driving lesson. I was home (a holiday or sick day or weekend, I don't recall)--I don't recall if my sister was there, too. The driving instructor showed up, a nice-looking, tall man. We all went to the garage together. What did we find? A large chain linked around a supporting beam of the garage and lassoed around the front axle of the car. My mother wasn't going anywhere.

Tim Russert needn't have asked my mother what her greatest public humiliation was, were she alive today. This was it--although she had only an audience of two--the drivng instructor and I. The river of her tears didn't stop. The driving instructor left. The memory of the incident is as searing today as it was then.

So, I was haunted, Mudge, when you shared with us the special efforts made by your father to rig the car and its steering wheel to enable your mother, a woman with one good arm--the other weakened by polio, to drive. Haunted.

Perfect sense: the musicians PAY (payola)the radio station to play their music, and CHARGE (ascap) the bar owner for playing their music.

That might be, Shriek, but I know a bit about copyright law. Copyright is basically designed to prevent Party X from making a profit from Party Y's work without Y's permission. There's always a major "fair use" clause, as well as the problem of monetary gain. But when someone (the networks) offer up a product "for free" to the general public, the product becomes, de facto, "in the public domain," at least as far as lack of monetary consideration is concerned. There is nothing inherent in copyright law that says a 55-inch screen is OK but a 56-inch isn't that's absurd. It's like saying the size of a page of a book must be limited to 10 inches wide, or something. Likewise, the size of a viewing audience is absurd; if something is offered free to the public, any right to regulate the *size* of segments of the public is absurd. It's OK if 50 people watch, but not 100? Either something is free and available, or it isn't.

Thanks, TBG! I read that blog post with great interest.

Well,I called my wife and asked her if I was her Dynasty. She replied that while we began as "Friends" and progressed to playing "House" while I was still her "Thin Man," eventually our lives became "Two For the Road" when she pursued her personal "Paper Chase" at the "Old School" but throughout "The Best Years of Our Lives" in the "Big Country" known as "Oklahoma" and even later when "Baby Makes Three" and our child became "Big", at no time did she think of me as her Dynasty. "Although "Moment to Moment" you could be "The Jerk", I never felt "Repulsion" or "Suspicion" over any "Secrets and LIes" she told me. "It would have been nice if we had seen "The Color of Money" more often, but there's not a "Shadow of a Doubt" in my mind that, "Odd Couple" that we are, we have through "True Romance" found "Love Actually." And what kind of a crazy "Quiz Show" question is that to ask, anyway?"

Well done, k-guy. *golf clap* :-)

Um, hate to rain on your parade, Loomis, but I'm not sure how much effort my father put into the steering wheel thing. Those knobs, IIRC, where called "Idiot Knobs" and you could buy one in any Pep Boys, and were quite common (one still sees them on buses). You could install one with a screwdriver in 30 seconds. They were eventually banned--I'm not sure why (bc, do you know?). Perhaps because a driver (even one without any handicaps) could steer with extreme nonchalance, down to one finger, which admittedly could be dangerous at speed if you had to make a sudden maneuver and it took a split second to grab the wheel properly. Its primary utility was cranking the wheel around when you were stopped or slowed, and making a 90-degree turn.

Or maybe it's just that I don't recollect my father as any special kind of hero, and especially not where he and my mother were concerned. As they say in C&W songs, he done her dirt more than a few times. And during the 1960s and 1970s he and I were fairly bitter opponents on all the questions of the day, war, Vietnam, "Hippies," race and civil rights, student protests, "long hair" (though I myself didn't have any), Demo. vs. Republican, pro-business vs. anti-business, religion (when I was about 16 he converted to Catholicism, which happened to be good for his business, and wanted my brother and me to do the same; I told him he was out of his effing mind), etc. The only things we had in common for decades was baseball and boats. We didn't even like the same kinds of beers and liquors.

k-guy- in awe, I tell you. Absolute awe, while golf clapping of course.

Loomis-too much more of this and we'll have to do a best of the boodle honoring moms book.

Brilliant, k-guy, simply brilliant.

And keep me out of any "I <3 Mom" tomes. Not that I don't love my mom, it's just that I have some street cred to protect.

Mudge, the copyright law is absurd. 55 inches is not inherent in the copyright law, it is expressly in the text of the law. See 17 U.S.C. 101(5)(B)(i)(II) and (ii)(II). http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#110

Oh my, that was great, k-guy! Kind of touching, too!

Is it Sunday yet??? *SIGHHHH*

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/sports/football/01nfl.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

k-guy, that was hilarious. however, i think you got it backwards. you were supposed to ask your wife if she thinks that she is *your* dynasty.

SCC: 17 U.S.C 110(5)(B)(i)(II)

Loomis (and other HRC supporters) you may be interested in this: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/politics/2008/view.bg?articleid=1070229&format=comments

I'm sorry you had to see that, go through that, Loomis.

Curmudgeon, my daddy assured me those little wheels were steering wheels for children. Are you saying the man lied to me? Next thing you know, both of you are probably going to tell me sour kraut tastes good. (I loathe sour kraut)

They used to have the wheelies on grain trucks. It made it possible for your 10 or 12 year old to help haul grain in the critical harvest season.

Wow is copyright law needlessly complex. Here is a phrase that keeps re-occurring:

"(II) if the performance or display is by audiovisual means, any visual portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total of not more than 4 audiovisual devices, of which not more than 1 audiovisual device is located in any 1 room, and no such audiovisual device has a diagonal screen size greater than 55 inches, and any audio portion of the performance or display is communicated by means of a total of not more than 6 loudspeakers, of which not more than 4 loudspeakers are located in any 1 room or adjoining outdoor space;"

And that doesn't include all the sub-paragraphs, exceptions, hithertos and whatnots. Lawyer-up because no layman could ever parse this unassisted

Yes, fee, didn't make myself clear: agree that 55 inches is an absurd criterion. Thought I said that. (Or maybe I said it badly.)

...and here's another notch Bush/Cheney and Repubs can proudly carve in their pistol grips: 'Appalling Gap' Found in Homeland Defense http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013101833.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Way to go, guys; you've done an outstanding job these past 6 years. Good things those darn Dems weren't in office. And like I said to myself on the day of 9/11, "Self, thank God George Bush is my president."

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez.

ALDI food stores are coming to central Florida. Could Trader Joe's (which they own) follow?

Princeton University Press is publishing "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the European Steppes Shaped the Modern World". 586 pages on the people who spoke Indo-European. Perhaps some of them even had blue eyes?

Loomis,
As much as I would like to participate in any Boodlers' socialogy experiment, I can only reply to your request with a question that I saw here on this self-same boodle one day(posted by TBG, IIRC):

Do I look like I have a death wish?

So all 5.1 sound systems are illegally braodcasting coppyrighted material. I hear jackboots stomping in the background. Those laws were written by the lobbyists and passed by congress. I don't know the clause and sub-graf but the music publishing industry lobbyists included a provision against DEVELOPING software INTENDED to defeat copyright protection on CDs and DVDs. Of course the possession of such software is illegal as well, even if it is not used. All this from the people who tell you to go on-line to buy an mp3 version of a song you already have on a legal CD/DVD.

I'm paying attention to the superdelegates

right the state delegate totals:

Clinton actual 21 estimated 48
Obama actual 34 estimated 63

Advantage: Obama

superds

Clinton estimated 184
Obama estimated 94

advantage: Clinton

totals

Clinton estimated 232
Obama estimated 158

Advantage: Clinton

I'm expecting McCain to pretty much put it away come Tuesday

I'm expecting Clinton and Obama to both still be in the race.

At least that's what my insanely crazy magic 8-ball is telling me...YMMV

...and now to the stuff of nightmares:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7213571.stm

This is about a new species of elephant shrew from the mountains of Tanzania. It caught my eye and conjured up the memory of being broken down on the side of the road when we were children and being told that we'd better be mindful of the shrews, lest we be attacked. We were somewhere like Wisconsin, a preferred haven for rogue shrews.

the united states' highest office is NOT something like a dry cleaning store that you leave to your wife, kids, cousin, girlfriend, etc. when you 1) die, 2) retire, 3) go to jail for tax evasion, 4)etc.

NO MORE inherited presidencies, OK?

sorry i yelled again. i better take a couple days off from the blog.

I think that this whole process would benefit by some jargon changes. For instance, don't you think that "superdelegates" would be more appropriately called "power brokers who are above the democratic process" or "political insiders not obligated to follow the will of the voters" or maybe "party bosses" for short?

Ooooh!!! Pictures!!!

And Joel got up-close and personal with Mumbles Menino! I wonder how the translation went. (I kid because I care, really)

:-)

And I hope (and actually expect) those Obama supporters know how to dodge a Green Line train.

:-)

Since DotC made a book plug at 12:29, I shall do the same, though we really don't know much about the contents (I assume).

I received on Jan. 23 an e-card from Jay Buckley--we had had a good back-and-forth e-mail exchange several years ago about why there were no books exclusively about William Calrk (until Lanny Jone's "William Clark and the Shaping of the West" came along), so the e-card was a big surprise--informing me that his book about William Clark has finally made it to print via University of Oklahoma Press.

http://www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=978-0-8061-3911-1

From the website:
Jay H. Buckley shows that Clark had immense influence on Indian-white relations in the trans-Mississippi region specifically and on federal Indian policy generally. As an agent of American expansion, Clark actively promoted the government factory system and the St. Louis fur trade and favored trade and friendship over military conflict. Clark was responsible for one-tenth of all Indian treaties ratified by the U.S. Senate. His first treaty in 1808 began Indian removal from what became Missouri Territory. His last treaty in 1836 completed the process, divesting Indians of the northwestern corner of Missouri. Although he sympathized with the Indians' fate and felt compassion for Native peoples, Clark was ultimately responsible for dispossessing more Indians than perhaps any other American.

By the way, Buckley is associate professor of history at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. I'm sure in our e-mail exchange I told Buckley about dancing with William Clark's distant great-grandson in the moonlight at the old train station at St. Chales, Missouri. Should have posted this during Joel's BYU Kit, darn it.

SCC: Jones' *and* St. Charles

Since the shrew was such a hit, I thought that this quiz might be fun, as well...

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/space/trivia.html

Brilliant k-guy

Hey LTNS butlerguy, I'm anti dynasty myself, but if it comes to HRC or anybody else, please let it be HRC.

More dem delegates:

total delegates 4,049 (2,025 needed to win)
superdelegates (power brokers) 796
pledged delegates 3,253

SDs are just under 20% of the total. Damn fine democratic institution-NOT

SCC: Small print says Buckley's book about Clark in not...yet...quite...in print.

K-guy, re: yiour request for "superdelegate" jargon change: how about FOOSBBBSIWOs ("Former occupants of smoke-filled backrooms back before smoking indoors was outlawed"), pronounced foos-three-B-sigh-woes

Claiming that because my wife is not part of my dynasty implies Hillary Clinton is not part of a Clinton dynasty doesn't follow logically.

It's like claiming that because my car is not a Mercedes, therefore nobody else's car can be one either.

By definition, a second President Clinton would be part of a dynasty of sorts. The important question is whether or not this matters.

i dunno about mccain. many conservatives will vote for mccain when hell freezes over. now that this is a mccain-romney affair, the conservatives may get behind romney. the nyt, giuliani and ahnold endorsements merely reinforce the idea that mccain is not really conservative. i think that both parties may not have conclusive results on tuesday.

MCCAIN'S CANES

Bob Dole (at 73) was constantly labeled too old to run against Bill Clinton in 1996 and age is NEVER mentioned (at least yet) as a factor with McCain who's 72. John McCain's candidacy was dead and buried until a few weeks before the NH primary due to incompetent staff, mismanagement and lack of money. McCain himself admits that he's not well versed on economics...and voters are somehow convinced that this man can oversee the country's economy better than a highly successful private sector businessman like Mitt Romney?

Strip away John McCain's 40 year ago military experience, which we're NEVER allowed to forget about or question (it's just about ALL he ever references in speeches and debates no matter what question he's asked), and you have nothing but a tired, old, empty suited, Washington, D.C. political hack/insider. He is an extremely weak candidate and a terrible debater by every account, especially compared to Mitt Romney (or even Huckabee).

Without the assistance of his "Canes" propping him up during this farce of a campaign, John McCain candidacy would still be dead and buried. Day after day, the canes come out of the political woodwork to endorse ol' RINO (Republican In Name Only) Johnny.

MCCAIN'S CANE # 1...the Liberal biased Main Stream Media and Press. With orgasmic puff story after puff story, it resurrected McCain from the dead, elevating him to frontrunner status just in time for the election.

MCCAIN'S CANE # 2...Independent and Democrat voters, who, for some bizarre reason, are allowed to vote in the REPUBLICAN primaries. I'd LOVE to meet the rocket scientists in those states who allow THAT to happen.

In Florida, Mitt Romney was gathering tremendous momentum and soaring in the polls until the weekend before the election.

MCCAIN'S CANE # 3...Florida Governor Crist who endorsed McCain just TWO days before the election.. Unfortunately, it was enough to convince a woefully uninformed voting public to vote for McCain and against Romney who was soaring in the polls until that moment. While this was bad enough, the fact that so many thousands of Floridians had to be TOLD who to vote just TWO days before such an important election was despicable, shameful, if not downright scary.

MCCAIN'S CANE # 4...Rudy Guiliani, who ends his "campaign" with an endorsement of, who else but John McCain hours before the California debate. Even with THAT, McCain who always been a terrible debater, was crushed by Mitt Romney at every turn...imagine what Obama would to to him?

MCCAIN'S CANE # 5...California Governor, Arnold Schwartzenager who now is endorsing old Johnny just before the Super Tuesday primaries.

If John McCain is the Republican nominee (heaven forbid), it will be done SOLELY with his the assistance of his canes and without them he is nearly helpless and will be easily defeated by either Hillary Clinton or upstart, or half-McCain's-age, 36 year old Barack Hussein Obama.

Mitt Romney is by far the most qualified man in EITHER party and is a class act all the way. And yet since he became a GOP candidate for president, I have seen nothing but negative, trivial articles/stories about his Mormon religion, his money, his slick appearance, etc, all fully intended to sway a naive electorate that pays far too little attention to the most important 4 year event in our country.

Mitt Romney is a TRUE family man and very successful at turning failed or failing enterprises around and Lord knows the United States of America needs turning around. It should be run as a business first, with a strong military to protect it from harm. All other social, giveaway programs should be scrutinized (and certainly would be under a Romney presidency) as to efficiency and even necessity. The fact that he was even elected Governor in a state (MA) controlled by 85% Democrat legislature was a feat in itself. In spite of it, he did a very admirable job as Governor, turning a large state deficit into a surplus. Of course, his many justified vetoes were constantly overturned by those liberal Democrats which made for a lot of frustration.

If Mitt Romney does get the GOP nomination it will be MUCH to the chagrin of the Democrat National Committee liberal propaganda machine because he will be their worst nightmare and most difficult to defeat...Obama, Clinton, or otherwise.

John McCain's time has long since come and gone and it has become more than obvious during this primary campaign that he doesn't even have the ability to WALK up the White House "stairs" without his "Canes", let alone RUN the biggest economy and country in the world.

hmmmmmmm...

*checking home page* Nope, nuthin.

OK, MittRomneyUnidentifiedNationalPopularityCounter, whatever you say.

:-)

ok, this time no yelling.

re the whole dynasty thing, of course it matters. the founders were wary of royalty, and rightly so. the country is not supposed to be run for the benefit of one family (e.g. the bushes). and the fear of royalty begat the fear of aristocracy, etc.

we have already come way too close to losing our way re all of this, with our worship of the rich, bush tax cuts, bipolar distribution of wealth, etc.

i think HRC is probably a decent person who knows a lot about many things governmental. let her teach at columbia or georgetown--same with her hub. but we have to come to our senses here. you simply cannot get to be president because your dad or your hub was there first. we can do better than that. we are supposed to do better than that. HRC, above all people, should know this, and her hub is a freaking rhodes scholar. they are so clearly blinded by their ambition and they think they are the only ones who can make things better. they are wrong. they had their time and they blew it.

ok. ok. breathe in,breathe out. very important to breathe.

Okay, so here's something I don't understand -- a businessman, in order to be successful, must set aside the actual best interests of his public in order to be ruled by constant attention to the interests of the business. If the business is best-served by serving the public, then that's lovely, but the connection between the two is only incidental. In exactly what way is this studied ruthless toward the populace a preparation for serving that populace? Is the plan to improve the overall survivability of the nation by business-like methods -- e.g., lay off (deport or imprison) underperforming citizens? Sell off assets (national parks)? Sell out to a higher bidder and take a golden parachute?

Howdy y'all. Thanks, k-guy, for the brilliant answer to the "dynasty" question, and the excellent potential definitions of "superdelegates". I think that perhaps we simply should not allow superdelegates to be seated until they can demonstrate a super power. It doesn't have to be flying over tall buildings; any of the Fantastic 4 powers should do for a start.

Hey, mrunpc, take a deep breath now. You're safe here.

Butlerguy, don't worry about the shouting.

My "dynasty" problem is that today my default association for that word is as a lyric I remember Prince singing, I think in the timeless pop song "Kiss". I've probably remembered it wrong, but there you are. With that as a frame of reference it is just hard to put it in a political setting. I did mention I was under the weather, right? It has clearly affected my brain.

"So all 5.1 sound systems are illegally braodcasting coppyrighted material."

No, 5.1 sound systems playing television broadcasts in bars and restaurants of over 3750 square feet or other establishments of over 2000 square feet are infringing copyrights. That makes more sense, right? You must not be hearing the rustling of the tape measures over the thuds of the jackboots.

Tom Jones sang that song too, and very well.

The one that might have the word "dynasty" in a lyric. The one essentially about obsessive casual sex. You see why I don't want to associate that with politics.

mrunpc, the Huckabee campaign, through Chuck Norris, questioned McCain's ability to survive a four year term as POTUS because of his age. This occurred on January 21, 2008. Perhaps Limbaugh forgot to report this and therefore you missed it, but CNN, NPR, Reuters, UPI, CBS, USA Today, and much of the MSM gave it space.

Dear Mr. UnPC,

I'm no expert political hack, but didn't ol' Chuck Norris take issue with McCain's age just a couple weeks ago? And isn't ol' Mitt the same guy who has reversed many of his own views and opinions in order to be more in line with Republican talking points? And isn't he also the guy who has said repeatedly that we should have only English as our national language but also has numerous ads running in Spanish around the country? Again, I'm no political expert, but he doesn't seem to me to be the paragon of integrity that you are painting him as.

Just my two cents.

Well, whatever. But you got a few factual errors, there, Skippy.

(1) "age is NEVER mentioned (at least yet) as a factor with McCain who's 72." Um, Chuck Norris brought it up the other day.

(2) Obama isn't 36. He was born Aug. 4, 1961. You do the math.

(3) "orgasmic puff story after puff story, it resurrected McCain from the dead" -- Virtually everyone agrees that its was the MSM that helped bury McCain, not resurrect him. The media were caught flat-footed when he rose from the dead.

Now some matters of opinion:

(a) To say that "Mitt Romney is a TRUE family man" implies that someone else isn't, and overall is pretty offensive in and of itself. John Edwards is a true family man. Obama is a true family man. One could even argue that Hillary is "true" family woman even though a good many think she should have divorced you-know-who (so you can't have it both ways). You sanctimonious Republican types gotta learn to drop this "family values" crap, at least until you can get it right on who does and who doesn't and what its relevance is to running a large country.

(b) "MUCH to the chagrin of the Democrat National Committee liberal propaganda machine because he will be their worst nightmare and most difficult to defeat..."
Well, here you're just plain off your gourd.

Otherwise, good luck as your man goes down the drain. Just a question of when.

"they had their time and they blew it."

Yeah, that business of 8 years of prosperity and leaving office with a budget surplus (promptly squandered by the brilliant and effective successor) clearly was a shallow grasp for history, an exercise in petty ambition. A failure.

News flash: all politicians are driven by ambition and pure self-interest. The genius of the Constitution is to recognize that trait, and to steer politicians so that personal ambition is served by serving the people and the office one holds. The problem (as demonstrated recently) is when a party of like-minded persons hold all the significant branches of government and thus there is no longer the element of striving against each other.

You certainly are not going to see a smart and capable politician ignore an office in which he or she could serve the country (and ambition) brilliantly, saying "Nah, it's kind of tacky for me to pursue that goal."

Tim, you reminded me of WSJ's lead paragraph in the $3 trillion (trillion! TRILLION!! with a 400 BILLION deficit!!!) (sorry for shouting) budget story today. It begins, "George W. Bush took office in 2001 with budget surpluses projected to stretch years into the future. But it's almost certain that when he returns to Texas next year, the president will leave behind a trail of deficits and debt that will sharply constrain his successor."

My memory is that steering wheel knobs were outlawed in the 60s (?) or whenever safety issues began to be applied to cars. Seat belts yes, knobs no. And the reason that sticks in my mind was that they could harm the driver in a crash. Ouch! Like a fist in the chest.

It seems like there are lots of boodlers under the weather but here, the weather itself is becoming a concern. It's been snowing heavily since about 09:30, the bus system is crawling to a stop but the nincompoop upstairs haven't announced an early out yet. I'm telling you I'm hauling ashes at 3 on the dot anyway.

Here is Maman in the foreground with her sack of eggs.
http://www.meteomedia.com/index.php?product=weather_cams&placecode=caon0512&pagecontent=weather_cams&camregion=canada&camera=CMON0059

And Mudge, I think mrunpc's reference to "family man" was another slam at McCain, who did marry more than one woman. Sequentially, of course. Were Rudy still around it woulda been appropriate, as he married enough to be called a serial husband.

mrunpc,
That was one empassioned plea. Are you Tagg, Matt, or Josh?

Most of those McCain Canes smell a lot like sour grapes. The timing of the Crist endorsement sounds like good strategy, something Giuliani lacked in barrels. Romney's position changes make him look like Kerry on a windsurfing board, only with better hair gel.

Much of the remaining campaigning will focus on electability and McCain's cross-over appeal that is causing so much grief in the primaries is the only reason he polls ahead of Hillary in a hypothetical face-off. I have a hard time believing that solid red conservatives will sit on their hands and hand over the White House, but suit yourself.

Better yet, run a right wing third party candidate. Perot put Clinton in office and Nader had more to do with electing Dubya than Sandra. Without 90,000 thrown away protest ballots, the hanging chads would have been moot.

Ivansmom, hope you get to feeling better, and I love that song by Prince. He's so wierd, but some of his music I love.

Loomis, a sad story, but the telling of it was simply beautiful.

k-guy, I'm clapping,good answer.

Hope the weekend is good for all.

Women, not girls, rule my world, I said they rule my world
Act your age, mama, not your shoe size, maybe we could do the twirl
U don't have 2 watch Dynasty 2 have an attitude, uh
U just leave it all up 2 me, my love will be your food (Yeah)

The rest here: http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Prince/Kiss.html

I'm not a prince (he kind sacares me), so you'll all have to do your own YouTube search for the Vids.

Oh, I know, Ivansmom. But I find it highly offensive that because somebody was divorced and remarried, that he/she is somehow morally inferior to someone else, who hasn't divorced. Can we see a show of hands around the Boodle of people who have divorced and perhaps or perhaps not remarried? S--- happens.

Oh, and how many times was St. Ronald married? Three, wasn't it?

Those people just really have to stop this nonsense. If they want to talk about clear, semi-admitted adulterers/hypocrits (Newt Ginrich, Rudy, BC), then fine, have at it. But there's no moral superiority between Romney and McCain on that issue. Jeez. (Yeah, ticks me off personally, and for good reason.)

Thanks omni!

I never saw the show Dynasty either.

83% on the space quiz. Some of those questions are tricks aimed at us elderly folks that got most of their astronomy education from Asimov science column collections.

"Tagg, Matt, or Josh"

Wait a minute, you're telling me that there is a Romney whose name does NOT end in a repeated consonant?

Actually, I AM A prince, dammit. Hhowever I am, NOT a Prince fan...

But I bet you all knew that. (What an SCC that turned out to be)

Anywho: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodie_knob

the legal/illigeal question/answer is it varies by state. most state illegal.

I agree absolutely, Mudge. There is no moral superiority to be found in the mere fact that one may or may not have remained married to the same person. Now, the specific circumstances of individual relationships may shed some light on personal values. However, in most cases that is more information than I want or need.

Jeez, just noticed another (see, I told you he scares me: witless

83% on the space quiz. I don't waste my time on stuff like memorizing numbers of satellites. I have more entertaining ways to waste my time.

I'm 58% spacey. A lot of those questions were from Uranus IMHO.

The score so far is one wife of 37 years and no changes are envisioned. For one thing, all Dr. K's degrees and publications are in her married name and if we split, I'd have to change my last name because she'd never change hers back.

Nice Achenphotos.

Family Values
Ronald Reagan
Jane Wyman
Divorce
Nancy Davis
Patti Davis
Black Sheep
Playboy

Your assignment (to the tune of Mission Impossible), should you choose to accept, is to put all above in a coherent sentence!

"serial husband........ I'm still laughing. Never heard it put that way.

Dynasty is a word we associate with China.

The Tang dynasty consisted of wives succeeding husbands, concubines succeeding former wives, etc.

http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h06chin.htm

The root of the word "Dynasty" is actually Greek. A dynast: a ruler or potentate, esp. a hereditary ruler.

[Origin: 1625-35; < L dynastés < Gk dynástés, equiv. to dýnas(thai) to rule + -tés agent suffix] [Latin dynastēs, from Greek dunastēs, lord, from dunasthai, to be able; see deu-2 in Indo-European roots.]

The concept in dynasty is that of RULE passed down through a family.

There were many dynasties in Chinese history that very rarely had a clear case of "children inheriting rule from parents" for more than one generation at a time. Many rulers were related by marriage or by connubial relationship, or distantly related to the older emperors.

The Tang dynasty definitely put the NASTY in dynasty, but there are many other examples. The Gandhi dynasty (no relation to Gandhi) starts with Nehru, whose daughter was a Gandhi and who got voted in and killed, then her son ran for politics and got killed. Her son's wife has run for political office and then stepped aside.

Sonia Gandhi is definitely part of a dynastic tradition in spite of only being related to Nehru as his grandson's widow, and not in fact even being Indian by birth (She's Italian.)

that's a long time to be married, k-guy, but I thing it is wonderful. In this day and age of quick divorces and everything else, it is to be admired.

I really like being married, but my husband didn't care much for it.

scc "but I think it is.....

I got that busiest space port question wrong. I would have gotten view from space wrong, but not clicking on anything was not an option. So I scored 92%, but should have got %83.

Divorced? Hand up here, it was the best thing I ever did for myself, my kids, AND most especially for my ex-husband.

At this point in the cycle, my gut sense is that McCain is the candidate with the best chance to beat the Democrat, whichever one it is. I'm leaning toward Obama myself, but I could happily vote for Clinton.

Interesting, Wilbrod. While I'm aware of the Chinese dynasties, I certainly didn't associate the word with China.

Normally I don't even associate it with Prince.

Though many dynasties contain princes.

"Although brodie knobs were never widely popular, they enjoyed limited popularity on trucks before the advent of power steering."

I had one on my first car, and it was pretty, too. All swirly colors like Murano glass. Probably picked it out myself at Pep Boys. (Manny, Moe and Jack.)

Wilbrod wrote:

"The Tang dynasty consisted of wives succeeding husbands, concubines succeeding former wives, etc."

With all of these wives and concubines doing the succeeding, shouldn't it have been called the 'tang dynasty?

Anybody with me here?

Ouch.

shrieking denizen wrote at 10:51:

The Clintons are a family, by most definition of the word right?
Collins dictionary defines "dynasty" as
1.Sequence of hereditary rulers
2. Any sequence of powerful leaders of the same family.
Hence it would be a Clinton dynasty by the second definition.

My take:
Dynasty, by party affiliation, in light of the second part of the definition provided by sd:

Republicans:

John McCain: father and grandfather were admirals in the U.S. Navy.

Willard Milton Romney: father was big cheese (both chairman and president) in Detroit for General Motors, as well as served as governor of Michigan

Democrats:

John Edwards: father was a mill worker in South Carolina (as we have heard many times--and North Carolina, too, after the family moved north, IIRC. Mother, not sure.)

Barack Obama: I need help here. I know Obama's parents were both students when they met. His father worked as what? His mother, some sort of aid work in Indonesia, IIRC.

Hillary Clinton: father operated a mom-and-pop small retail operation in which he sold window coverings, following in his lacemaker father's footsteps. Her mother was the bookkeeper.

Bill Clinton: Tossing this in. His mother went back to school as a single mom to become a nurse. His stepfather was an alcoholic, but I can't remember his line of work. His birth father a traveling salesman, IIRC.

My friend Porfiria always refers to her divorce as "shedding 145 pounds of unsightly fat."

Why are you leaving out the Bush dynasty, Loomis?

You're the one who can find hereditary connections between everybody... do your homework. You'll find something.

Hmmm, where'd Joel get the idea that Super Size Tuesday just happens to fall on Fat Tuesday, anyaway?

And who said that Iowa traditionally didn't matter much anyway?

Bah, nevermind.

Re. #2 on Joel's list: Shankar Vendadm wrote a very good piece earlier this week about complexity and volume of ideas and information and election results.

Here's a quote:
"'Low complexity wins elections,' said psychologist Lucian Gideon Conway III of the University of Montana at Missoula, who published his analysis of the presidential speeches in the journal Political Psychology. 'People like simple answers, and someone saying, "'I don't have all the answers and here are five possibilities'" is a hard sell compared to someone who says, "'I have a plan and it is going to work and my opponent is completely wrong.'" '

The rest of it is here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/27/AR2008012701499.html

I found it compelling reading for election results as well as the SoTU address.

If I'm repeating something someone's already said, please remember that I started writing this before lunch and only just now that I didn't hit 'Submit'.

bc

Have you seen Telnaes' cartoon on the home page about "The Change Dynasty"? Perhaps she's saying it better and more humorously than I! *laughing*

George Romney was big in the auto industry, but not with GM. He presided over now defunct AMC, producer of some profoundly ugly (though serviceable) vehicles before finally being gobbled up by Chrysler in the 80's. Wayne and Garth tool around in an AMC Pacer in "Wayne's World."

Gosh, Wilbrod, I thought I'd already done my homework long ago, pointing out--long ago...on the Boodle--that the Bushes are descended from England's Edward I, as is Willard Milton. Now that's dynasty.

Concubines! D@mmit, I knew there was something this campaign needed! More concubines!

(I venture to guess Gomer's with me on this.)

Dynasty only makes sense with an adjective attached. As in presidential dynasty. Or football dynasty. To say that a presidential dynasty is fine because everybody belongs to a dynasty of some kind is a meaningless argument.

Linda, I understand that the intent is to sidestep the criticism of HRC, but why bother? Instead of using sloppy logic to deny the assertion that a second President Clinton would be part of a dynasty, why not embrace it? Argue that the existence of so much experience in the White House is a benefit. I think this would be a far, far better argument and one I am fully confident could be effectively made.

Now, I have got my in-laws coming down for my son's birthday this weekend. Or, as I like to call them, my dynastic minions.

Cheers.

Thanks k-guy, I even Googled George's bio before posting and saw AMC (yet I didn't understand the difference)--that shows how little attention I pay to cars--other than sticking the key in the ignition and nagging my husband once a month about checking my tire pressure and dipstick.

Oooohh, Padouk...*bringing out the gloves and warming up for Monday*

*laughing uproariously*

I think bc needs more caffeine...

:-)

SCC: First of all, I'm horribly embarassed to have misspelled "Vedantam." Also, please add "realized" to last sentence.

"Suicide knobs" were outlawed because they posed risks to a driver's control if they were not secured properly and in the event of an accident they tended to cause more damage to a driver than an impact with typical steering wheel (which was a bigger problem before mandatory seatbelt laws and airbags).

bc

Radar shows our storm might be letting up
The trailing edge is just west of Manasas

Wilbrod, she might have left out the Bushes because (a) the dynastic connections already are pretty much known to the public; (b) part of the idea was to point out that dynasty is an inappropriate word to apply to the Democrats who are running, but not far from the mark for the Repuglicans (you may note that few Repuglicans are rags-to-riches by their own hard work -- unlike several prominent Democrats); and (c) because it would be major Boodle-hogging to actually describe the Bush family's connectedness. The list is REALLY long. Senators, two presidents, governors, businessmen. Lots of connections.

The party that purports to favor small businessmen who make themselves into success stories, rising from nothing to fabulous wealth, seems to hold little appeal for persons who have actually done so. Republicans get their money the old-fashioned way -- hire a lawyer to fight Daddy's will in probate, then wait for the death of Daddy (or hurry it along) and seize the assets.

Well AMC may have made ugly cars, but I do have them to thank for our first colour TV, it was a give away when you bought the car. TV outlived the car by about 10 years.

Scottynuke, I don't need any more caffiene; I'm already vibrating like a tuning fork.

What I need is less work to do.

bc

How different would the world be now if George Romney had won the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 instead of Richard Nixon? Perhaps a better resolution in Viet Nam, certainly no Watergate, no President Ford, probably no President HW Bush and then certainly no President Dubya. Guess these primary thingees do matter a bit.

When I was in Xian, there is an entire theme park dedicated to the Tang Dynasty. In Chinese lore, the Tang Dynasty occupies the same space as the Roman Empire does for us as a glorious high water mark of civilization and achievement. The theme park ran a theatrical show that had fantastic costumes and talented performers. Some of the narration had translations but I don't remember much about concubines and palace intrigue. Next time I'll pay better attention. It sounds fascinating.

Asia cultures tend to have their historic eras broken down into dynasties which I think is more a function of Western bias in nomenclature than any sort of exceptionalism. Nobody talks about the Windsor Dynasty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1958_Rambler_sedan_pink_and_white_NJ.jpg

The prosecution rests, milord.

DC storm update: Manasas is in the clear. yay, I may get home with dry feet yet...

I'm home, looking at the snow still falling down in large quantity.
Don't diss AMC, my first car was a AMC Hornet, forrest green at that (with a strong rust orange overtone). Almost bought a Gremlin later but came to my senses in time.
For a nice view on the Tang dynasty I recommend the Judge Dee series of books by Robert Van Gulik.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Dee

k-guy, my sister used to have that Rambler. Once we were going around a steep bend in Pennypack Park, about ready to head downhill, when one of the tires came off. Carful of kids found it funny, my sister, not so much.

It came to a timely end when she worked at Byberry (Mudge will get this) and a patient torched it one night.

It is impossible to diss a thing which disses itself so effectively-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1977-Matador_Barcelona-front_left.JPG

"Yeah, I know they're ugly, but they have such nice personalities!"

Storm views from my area, very pretty here snow stuck to every branch - wet and heavy to shovel though.

My kids were not amused when I said how lucky they were that there was a snow day on a day when they were already off school.

The link,

http://cms.burlington.ca/Page2605.aspx

J.A. was here, at my campus, he took a picture of the bldg where all my art classes are and I didn't know because I'm an Achenblog slacker. (I'm also a slacker about actually going to classes this semester, but that's another story.) I should have gone to that BYU Democrats party. I'm not affiliated with either party but I still would've gone. A prime opportunity wasted.

Loomis - I have no idea what you find so humorous. I apologize if the term "sloppy logic" was offensive. I should have said "logic I find unconvincing." Perhaps others find your argument compelling, but to me it is like arguing that there is nothing wrong driving a Hummer with a missing muffler because, you know, most everyone on the freeway drives cars.

The point is, why make such a big deal over the word dynasty? It is not necessarily derogatory. Heck, this weekend I imagine many will be watching a sporting event in which one of the participants would be happier then heck to be considered part of a dynasty.

Now I am outa here.

Hey Sara! Good to hear from you, even if you are a slacker. Why, pray tell, are you not going to class this semester? If you are registered and just not getting up, shame on you. ;-) If for other reasons, well...

In the early 80s my future wife drove a 1960 Studebaker that was not only ugly, it was a maintenance nightmare. It really belonged in the hands of a collector instead of a teenage girl.

Sara,

Good to hear from you. I see you have updated your blog recently. Stay in touch with the boodle, we miss you.

Slyness,

It's my last semester and I saved my GEs (Biology 100, Stats 221, etc...) for the last semester--stupid idea, I am bored out of my mind. Biology 100 doesn't even have tests--the final is a reflective writing experience and my husband is a biology major so I'm pretty set there. Stats has everything you need online so I don't go to the classes. Pretty much all my classes are like that. So I just hang out at work most of the time. I'm usually the only one here nowadays so it's pretty peaceful.

Hi Sara.

We bought that Gremlin that SD decided against. Never has one car had so many problems, most in hardware --- windows that stopped going up and down --- and they were manual! Knobs and buttons that fell off and disappeared, etc. But -- it was the first car we owned that had air conditioning!

I miss you guys, too. I'm not as busy anymore due to my lack of classes that require attendance or work so I should be around more often.

Well Sara, come back more often, willya?? *happy-to-see-ya Grover waves* :-)

And in other news...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/02/01/moveon_backs_obama.html?hpid=topnews

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Okay, I'll put the mother frown back up for another day, Sara, and we'll look forward to hearing from you more often!

Correct on all counts about the Bush Dynasty. I was actually suggesting Loomis find ties between the Democrats and the Bushes.

Hillary is pro-genealogy after all: http://www.creators.com/opinion/hillary-clinton/talking-it-over-1999-12-22.html

There's a report on the Obama family tree and pointing up that almost everybody with New England roots are related to presidents and each other:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/548552,CST-NWS-otreemain09.article

I found one source for Bill Clinton:

http://www.mapyourancestors.com/genealogy.php?userid=135

rd, when used to describe the clintons, dynasty is almost always invoked as a negative, so i think your point is an outlyer in this particular case. why this is, i don't know, because some people view the kennedy dynasty as positive thing. some people. dynasties on the whole in democracy should be viewed negatively, imo, that's what it is to be a democracy. my point earlier about the clintons is they have very limited further dynasty potential beyond hrc, so i think that the characterization is overstated. but it is a valid issue to raise.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/2005/09/bushs_great_society.html
Some Edward I talk here.

Hey Lurker... have you seen those American Express Plum Card commercials featuring the owners of Pinkberry? I think of you every time I see it.

(The voiceover, by the way, is done by the lovely Lauren Graham, or Lorelai Gilmore.)

"He might as well have worn a dashiki."

What a great line. Thanks Jumper for that link.

Loomis, I was backboodling, and caught this comment of yours,

"Mitt Romney's hair reminds me of Loomis hair. No two ways about it. Richard Gere's got it, too."

I know this kind of hair. There are people in my family with this kind of hair. We call it helmet hair (only we don't require hairspray). Just call me bouffant.

hey, tbg. i have to confess i don't have a tv, so i just went and watched it on youtube. i rely on the boodle and youtube to keep me informed. :-)

That is Lauren Graham! I love her. I miss the Gilmore Girls. Of course, I have them all on DVD.

L.A. lurker. Clearly the term "dynasty" is being wielded to denigrate Hillary. My point is not to get bogged down in a rather tedious semantic discussion over the word. Instead, go after the underlying implied criticism. If one asserts that a Clinton "dynasty" would hurt Democracy point out why it would not. If it is suggested that a Clinton "dynasty" would somehow diminish our standing in the world offer a compelling rebuttal.
This is how minds would be changed.

Concubines, yeeessssss. I wonder what Hillary's would look like.

Sara! I can never keep straight what state you're in, geography-wise, and so I wasn't sure if you were in the proximity of Joel or not. Hope you can stop in more often. I'm hoping Joel will make it out to WA next weekend, but I doubt he'll be in my neighborhood even so.

SD, great picture. Glad you made it home safe.

Gomer, personally, I would start with George Clooney, if I were Hillary.

Hi Sara! And RD, enjoy the birthday festivities. If I remember right, the young man in question is driving now. Will he be taking his grandparents out for a spin?

hi Sara! You're graduating in the spring? Let's have a ceremony!

We watch Gilmore girls every day. It's on some channel around here in the afternoon. Of course, they're Tivo'ed, so I don't know which channel or what time.

My daughter and I discovered the show last year.. in its final year (and no longer written by its originator). I love the show... love the relationship between the mom and daughter.. but mostly love, of course, the snappy patter!

And just to belabor the point - I do not think dynasty in a democracy is a good thing, no matter who it is. Although I'd much rather see a Clinton dynasty than a Bush dynasty. Or a Bill Clinton 3rd term, had it been possible in 2000. But ultimately, it's up to the voters, so if they choose to keep the same family in office, so be it. And that might be the best choice sometimes.

I have come to agree with term limits, in some ways - I hate that some Senators have been in office for so long, and especially when they seem not to be functioning so well. You know, maybe 40 years is long enough to be a Congressperson, Senator, or Supreme Court judge...

My mother watched the pilot of Gilmore Girls and she said, "You have to watch this. It's about US! I swear the WB (it was still the WB) follows us around and then writes the show about our lives." And she was right. Even with birthdays. Rory's birthday episode was always, for all seven seasons, on the week of my birthday.

And I believe that channel is ABC Family. It's on at 6 here.

My wife said that the similarity between 'Freaks and Geeks' and my high school life was actionable. She should know, she was there.

Sara,
Biology 100 might be a chance to peek at something or other truly weird. Here's a pdf/powerPoint lecture on weird botany. That "parasitic podocarp" (something vaguely like a yew) is on an island with ridiculously primitive flowering plants and an astounding collection of palms.

http://www.botany.wisc.edu/courses/botany_400/Lecture/pdf/24Carnivore.pdf

Closer to home, I liked the cushion plants that live on rocks or gravel patches in places where the wind ensures there won't be any snow in the winter. My favorite has to be this one:
http://fieldguide.mt.gov/detail_PDAPI2G010.aspx
It somehow hid in plain sight until about 1980, isn't confined to inaccessible spots, and it makes really big green mats covered with patches of yellow flowers!

DotheC,

Lovely little plant-mat that I hope I saw at one time. I always like your plant referrals.

Loomis, such a hard story. Bravery exists in so many unsung places. I love.love.love.love that she took painting despite so many hurdles.

Hair! We have Kennedy hair in the family: thick, unruly, upright, tangled. One brother, save for his natural auburn highlights, was routinely mistaken for John John during college and after. They are about the same age and tended to sport similarly: kayaking, rollerblading, windsurfing, etc.

Speaking of hair, I was fascinated by the Steve Van Zandt/Silvio Dante hair on The Sopranos:
http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/cast/actor/steve_vanzandt.shtml

Perfect mash-up of Sicilian hair and pentecostal-preacher hair.

Finished the week of classes and am bone tired. Small sump failure that needs some attention.....have a good weekend, boodlers.

rd, i don't think that dynasty is a good thing in a democracy or that it's desirable to frame it in a positive way. to me that would be semantic game-playing. i just don't think the term, in its straight-forward usage, applies all that convincingly, or at least overwhelmingly, to the clintons.

Must report that CPboy and friends are rocking through an earnest Ritchie Haven's guitar romp of

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child....
(squirrelly but earnest voices!)
Wow. Such a good soundtrack to life at my house these days, with CPboy and buds.

Yes, I'll be thinking about that story a while as well, Loomis.

After driving my older siblings everywhere for sports and such events, my parents made it clear they did not want to play chaffeur anymore, and that affected my choice of participation in sports, etc.

Always an introvert, this made it worse for me until I got to college. I am glad she managed to paint anyway.

As Mudge said, his father wasn't the greatest but there's a difference between being a jerk at times, and being a control freak.

My ex was the occasional jerk, but when I had foot surgery, he drove me to work when I couldn't manage public transit... even when we were about to break up.

Your mother truly did deserve better even if the marriage had trouble.

The debate shouldn't be about whether or not having the Clintons return to the White House is a "dynasty" or not. The question is whether or not having a powerful former first lady return to the White House introduces significant risk to our system of government.

Which is why, far from belaboring the point, mostlylurking is cutting through the noise to the key question. Does this unique situation, no matter what it is called, present a risk?

Now, I really don't think it does. I am sure there will be issues raised and difficult adjustments, but it really doesn't bother me that much.

I just don't like seeing a debate framed in what I consider to be an illogical way and fought with what I consider faulty premises. This, to me, serves no good purpose.

Now, I profoundly apologize if *I* am belaboring the point.

We all have our points of passion. One of mine happens to be logical reasoning.

Well said, RD.

I just loved the 2nd paragraph in Tim's 3:08.
The hubby and I always marvel at the ability of the Republican party to obscure their elitist policies. Mmmmmm, I think it's called wedge politics, or something like that.

Jumper - many thanks for your 4:14 link to JA's assessment of GWB's Katrina speech. Priceless.

I love the Gilmore Girls. As my little girl recedes and the rebellious teenager comes to the fore, when we watch the Gilmore Girls together, we find some moments to enjoy together. That, and my insistence that we read the same book over a 2 month period seems to keep the teenage angst from boiling over....our last book was "The Secret Life of Bees" Fun to read with your daughter.

yello, is the Roman Empire really considered an apex of civilization in your society? Greece I can see, but Rome?

Ivansmom - you pose an excellent question regarding my in-laws being chauffeured around by my newly-minted 17-year old. I suppose this depends on how carefully my father-in-law is keeping track of his heart medicine.

Actually, my son is a very good driver. He is still so new at it that fear and respect guarantee concentration. I see the danger coming in a year or so when he starts taking the road for granted.

I'm thinking that one thing that might help a young man develop safe driving skills might be living close to a cemetery.

TBG - That is a quite insightful observation upon which action is most assured.

Of course, living among "speed humps" is another story altogether.

Nice story!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080201/ts_nm/finland_stemcells_dc

Now whether peg legs can be grown from stem cells is a yet-unanswered question.

rd, i agree with you considering what should be the most important issue. because to me the clinton situation is more of a "restoration" than a real "dynasty" issue or threat, it is does not particularly worry me.

At the risk of being cruelly mocked by most of the male Boodlers, might I add that Lauren Graham is hot? (Um, not that I know this from having watched "Gilmore Girls," or anything. Oh no. I read it, um, ah, yeah, that's it, I read it somewhere.)

You're right, Mudge. She's hot.

But can I mock you anyway?

Actually, Hillary represents our nation's sixth possible "dynasty" --and I've actually approved of at least two of them.

1) John Adams and John Quincy Adams (I'm a big JA fan, um, referring to Adams pere. Adams fil, not so much, or at all)

2) Bennie and Wm. Henry Harrison. Feh.

3) Teddy Roosevelt and FDR: highly approve of both.

4) JFK and very nearly RFK: highly approved of both.

5) A pair of Bushes (and talk of a third, Jeb once upon a time)-- "Feh" doesn't begin to do this one justice.

6) Clinton and Clinton ux. Would tolerate this, but not gonna add them to my MySpace page favs.

Why we have this dynastic fetish I have no idea. Also why do some families have this occupational propsensity? No idea.

One could also add to the list Rockafellers, Browns of Calif., Daleys of Chicago, Romneys, at least two additional Kennedys (Kathleen in Md. and Cong. Patrick), Caseys in Pa., and probably a few more lesser clans scattered about.

So if nothing else, let us dispense with any notion that this is unusual. "Good" or "bad" may be something else entirely.

Oh, go ahead, TBG. At least you do it with affection.

Dang, I wrote a long post (with links to pics) rhapsodizing about AMCs I considered as neat cars or nice looking: the AMX, the Javelin (particularly the Mark Donohue/Roger Penske Trans Am race cars and street knockoffs), the SC/Rambler (not pretty, but pretty cool) and the Rebel Machine (ditto).

But the Durty Wurd Filter ate it, and I don't have the time or energy to reconstruct it.

Sara, nice to see you here.

I'm another guy who likes Gilmore Girls, really good writing, especially during the first 5.5 seasons when Palladino was closely involved...

bc

I can't talk about US dynasties but regarding why the fetish, it is not that different from families where an occupation continues down the generations.

In the end if should be more about an individual persons qualifications than their last name.

Well.. you do have to admit this case is unusual.

And it's pretty cool that the discussion is "Obama vs Clinton" and not "the black guy vs the girl."

That aspect--absolutely, TBG. No question.

Son of G and I visited the Warner Bros studio last year on our trip to California. We stood inside Luke's Diner. Very cool.

I wrote this last year and submitted it for a Guest Kit. It apparently was not deemed Kitworthy; besides, it's out of date now that Gilmore Girls has celebrated its finale (although it lives on through reruns)...


When people started talking about the show Gilmore Girls six years ago, I thought they were talking about Golden Girls. I wondered if there had been some sort of cult-like resurgence in the popularity of Bea Arthur and Betty White, but didn't really give it much thought.

Then my preteen daughter's friends were obsessed with Gilmore Girls and I revisited the idea of Sophie, Blanche and Rose being a hit among the tweens of Fairfax County.

Eventually, my daughter introduced me to Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, a mother and daughter in fictional Stars Hollow, Connecticut, and I was reunited with snappy patter.

You remember snappy patter: the trademark of 1930s cop movies. "What's yer beef, sister?" and lines like that.

That's how Lorelai and Rory talk. My son refuses to watch the show; he hates the rhythm of the dialog. He can tell we're watching even when he's elsewhere in the house because he can hear the rat-tat-tat of the conversations. But Gilmore Girls is more than just snappy patter.

It's a show about single mom Lorelai (played by Lauren Graham) and her daughter Rory (Alexis Bledel). [There's a back story, of course: Lorelai gets pregnant at 16 and begins her journey as a young, single mother. It doesn't hurt that her parents are stinking rich--even though she runs away to work as a maid in a nearby inn, yada yada yada. Now Lorelai owns the inn and has a reasonably livable relationship with her parents; Rory attends Yale. They are living the "good life"--albeit with typical TV ups and downs.]

I don't know why the show is so popular, but to me the important thing is that, for the most part, the Gilmore girls are a mom and daughter who genuinely like each other. My daughter and her friends actually love a show about a parent who gets along with her kid; a daughter who admires her mom--who actually asks her mom for advice.

Of course, she doesn't always listen, but I'll