A reminder...

Vote!

297

My bet: Obama with 297 electoral votes.

Hopefully more.

Go vote tomorrow.

Humor is humor

McCain was hilarious on SNL. Well worth a watch.

Going to be a good day.

This touches the heart.

The Messenger

Not a 'real' video. Shame, this song deserves one.

History in economics.

Did people who knew about secret, CIA-led coups use that information to game the stock market?

Yes they did.

The birth of a meme

Where "Tire Swinging" comes from:

There are worse ways to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon than swinging lazily back and forth on a tire swing strung up under a massive sycamore tree in a quiet Arizona canyon, the sound of a gushing stream nearby. Almost grazing the ground and hung on rope that looked to have been tied and retied again over the years, the swing belonged to John McCain, who stood several dozen yards away, carefully monitoring giant slabs of pork ribs on a smoking grill.

Those halcyon days when the press loved McCain and McCain loved the press.

A defining moment

Colombian hostage dragged to freedom

I expect that in a future history of the FARC, this particular event will crystallize its descent into insignificance.

My hero

Callie Shell's photos of Obama

Intimate, telling, moving. Well worth a look. (Warning: many large images.)

Wassup 2008

Perspective

I needed to know: can Obama pick a fantasy team? So I asked him.

Howard Zinn

Understanding the other

Peter Sagal on understanding the Obama Conspiracy Theorists.

In the real world, Barack Obama seems like he’s going to be elected President. This, as unlikely as it might have seemed as little as two years ago, is easily explained: the Republicans have done a poor job running the country, have a very unpopular incumbent President, and our nation likes to switch parties about every 8 to 12 years. Plus, Obama is a charismatic politician who’s run a very competent campaign.

Nonetheless, this reality is intolerable to some, and they have created an alternative narrative. In this narrative, Obama is “a Marxisant radical who all his life has been mentored by, sat at the feet of, worshipped with, befriended, endorsed the philosophy of, funded and been in turn funded, politically promoted and supported by a nexus comprising black power anti-white racists, Jew-haters, revolutionary Marxists, unrepentant former terrorists and Chicago mobsters.” Once elected, presumably, will reveal himself to be the monster that he is, in the manner of Kang and Kodos in that classic 1996 Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons.

A cultural moment

Meteor Blades talks about the Weather Underground and terror.

Cuba to become a petro-power

20bn barrel oil discovery puts Cuba in the big league

Oil drilling starting soon. Three-five years before Cuba sees significant returns.

Good Beat

Good Beat, by DeeLite. More retro to start the weekend.

Surprised it lasted this long

Madonna divorcing Guy.

Not the sort of thing I normally blog about, but I remember thinking when they were married that it wouldn't last more than four years. Madonna doesn't seem to be a "happily ever after" type of person.

Economic racism?

So... there really are people who believe (i.e.: Bryon York) that giving "mortgages to people, particularly minorities, who could not afford them" was a prime cause of the nation's economic crisis.

It is a bit like arguing that the reason the I-35W Mississippi Bridge collapsed is because poor people were allowed to have cars.

Somersault

Somersault, one of my favorites from Zero 7.