Unexpected Wisdom

Richard Nixon, "Remarks on the Departure from the White House": August 9, 1974

In Which I Speculate (More Than Half-Seriously)

In response to @davidinindy's:

Hard to imagine a world where a Glenn Beck "novel" displaces 'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest' on the NYTs Bestseller List. O_oMon Jun 28 19:41:35 via webDavid M
davidinindy

And (wild assumption) assuming it takes 10,000 books sold to make the NYT Best Seller list, I divined the following numbers:

• 18 sold to Tea Partiers able to read at 3rd grade level (the other dozen or so waiting for paperback)
• 9 sold to Tea Partiers not (yet) able to read at 3rd grade level but with aspirations
• 6 sold to people who mistook it for Ludlum's "The Osterman Weekend" (who, by the way, are wishing they had saved their receipts)
• 9,967 sold to a variety of different organizations, all of which used the same credit card to place the order -- that card's MRP paid by a check signed by Michael Steele.

I Guess it Wasn't Patriotic Enough

The North Carolina Secular Association put the above billboard up in Charlotte.  Saw on the local news a moment ago that it was defaced in a predictable way.

Looks like this now:

I see The Southern Atheist Gentleman had this posted yesterday. (Mental note: add to blogroll after publishing this post.) 

Two Polls

Marshall, Burr tied in new poll — and it's not a Democratic poll | Citizen | Independent Weekly

Talk about your post-primary bounces. Democrat Elaine Marshall, whose chances against incumbent Republican Richard Burr were little and none on Monday — according to every pundit you know — is neck-and-neck with him on Thursday in the race for Burr's U.S. Senate seat, according to a new Rasmussen Poll. And as all poll fans know, Rasmussen's polls are either OK or a little skewed to the GOP side of things. They are not in the business of making Democrats look better than they are, put it that way. Three weeks ago, Rasmussen had Marshall behind by 50-36 percent while a PPP poll had her within seven points. The new Rasmussen Poll is: Burr 44, Marshall 43 — within the margin of error, obviously.

Meanwhile, WRAL is selling the "Burr will defeat Marshall easily" line.

Here's the Rasmussen poll from June 22nd.

Marshall and Burr will debate tomorrow morning at 11am.

Not a Fan of This Prediction

3) Knowing someone else is going to overpay Ray Allen, Celts make a July 1st play for JJ Redick (full midlevel exception: 5 yrs, $33m).Fri Jun 25 14:59:04 via webBill Simmons
sportsguy33

If this comes to pass, if Ray Allen is replaced with J.J. Redick, I can tell you right now how many Celtics games I will watch next season: 0.  It was hard enough to ignore the presence of Shelden Williams on the roster this past season.  I'll wish them luck and all, just not against any team with a UConn player on the roster.  Any UConn player.

My Top 8 at Last.fm

Like the Spanish City to Me, When We Were Kids

Geordies facing the loss of their fantasy Spanish City - Home News, UK - The Independent

Not exactly breaking news, to put it mildly, it's just one of those things I was pretty sure I'd sussed out from the song ("Tunnel of Love" by Dire Straits, of course, and there's a Douglas Adams quote on the Wikipedia page) but never got around to actually googling to see if there was more to it. Sure enough, the Spanish City was a fairground/tourist attraction in the Northeast of England that Mark Knopfler visited as a kid. The first place he heard rock-n-roll played loud so, as a formative experience of his, it's made the rest of us that much richer.  Although you'd barely know it if you just read the Rolling Stone Top 500 list.

Not For Nothing

Based on nothing, I can say with confidence that North Carolina is the better one.Wed Jun 23 01:40:01 via webAlec Sulkin
thesulk

Check a helpful infographic courtesy of the Onion for some reasons.

What Was I Blogging About Ten Years Ago Today?

Triptych Cryptic:

Ah, my idealistic younger self.  They die because they're not making money, fool.  Ten years later, I'm still missing Sports Night, The West Wing, and (believe it or not) even Studio 60.  I just want Aaron Sorkin to get a new show on the air.  Is that so much to ask?

Not Much Goodwill Left for South Africa Now

And, no, this isn't an anti-vuvuzela sentiment.  It's an anti-rape one.

I've been laughing at the twitstream of @jasonmustian for a while now and wondering, "how bad are the rape statistics in South Africa for this guy to be mocking South African men so mercilessly?"  Well, I finally googled it and the first article that came up was sobering, to say the least: "South Africa's Rape Crisis: 1 in 4 Men Say They've Done It" [Time.com]

In South Africa getting raped is considered good luck. Cause hey, you could've been gang-raped!Sun Jun 13 22:07:27 via webJason Mustian
jasonmustian

Once More Into the Breach

Look, this isn't going to be a thing with me, I just want to support Bradley Whitford's career and actually do like his performance in this otherwise pedestrian show.  So, probably for the last time, I'm trying to sit through a something with Colin Hanks in it out of loyalty to the former Deputy Chief of Staff and present this bit of athleticism and subtle humor while I do:

But Sarah Palin Says It's OK!

Deputies: Marijuana plants found at state inspector's house :: WRAL.com

Actually, Palin's position on marijuana is probably her least inane on anything.

The timing of this Palin story today ties in quite nicely with one of yesterday's Bravo re-runs of the The West Wing.  And, yes, you (hypothetical, perhaps non-existent reader) would be right to suspect I'm watching a sick amount of West Wing re-runs these days.

Gorilla Nearly Escapes from North Carolina Zoo - WGHP

GORILLA ZOO ESCAPE: Gorilla Nearly Escapes from North Carolina Zoo - WGHP
I'm glad it didn't escape into a crowd of Carolinians. I've been here a couple years now and still haven't gotten used to the relatively slow talking pace down here. By the time somebody could say "Hey, that gorilla is getting out of the enclosure, y'all better run!" they would've all been gorilla-smashed.

(Since no humans or animals were hurt, I don't feel too mean cracking wise. Just a little yankee ribbing.)

#FF Zepadeedoodah

I judge the success of my day on how well I fast forward through commercials on my DVR.Fri Jun 11 20:44:33 via EchofonSteve Mazepa
zepadeedoodah

The West Wing. I Miss It So Much.

It's not just that the dressing-down is well-deserved. It's Sam, seeming almost on the verge of apologizing, actually just coming over to take a crab puff that makes this clip beautiful. He's telling her, "you want to be treated with respect? Like a human being? Then act like one."

One of These Two Needs to Beat Burr

Marshall, Cunningham face off during Democratic debate - News14.com

You Are Filled with Science Juice, Amongst Other Things

The person you call your "best friend" is just a bag filled w/ bones & sausage & science juice. They're basically a monster.Wed Jun 09 20:57:44 via webrob delaney
robdelaney

0% Chance We'll Look to Rent a Beach House This Year

N.C. coast not worried about Gulf oil ... yet :: WRAL.com: "Computer models run by the National Center for Atmospheric Research have shown that oil could enter the Gulf’s loop current, go around the tip of Florida and follow the Gulf Stream current as far north as Cape Hatteras. According to researchers, oil could threaten North Carolina beaches by early July, but they cautioned the models were not a forecast."

It's Not Josh Lyman and "The West Wing"

But it's Bradley Whitford in something, so I'll watch it.  Good grief though, is there a worse actor than Colin Hanks?  Can't tell if he's trying to do a Texas accent or has a mild concussion?